Postal address: Statens veterinärmedicinska anstalt (SVA), Ulls väg 2B, 756 51, Uppsala, Sweden
Web address: http://www.sva.se/en
Contact person: Dr. Ylva Persson, Deputy State Veterinary, phone: +46 (0)18 67 41 62,
South Asia Related Research
In November 2015 Ylva Persson was granted a Swedish Research Links (SLR) grant by the Swedish Research Council for a project entitled Development of Udder Health Control Program in Dairy Cows in Bangladesh .
The three-year project (2016-18) will be carried out in collaboration with Prof. Md. Ahsanul Hoque, Dr. Mizanur Rahman and Dr. Sharmin Chowdhury from the Chittagong Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (CVASU) in Bangladesh. CVASU is a young and highly ambitious university in Chittagong, an area in Bangladesh where the cattle density is highest. The university runs a busy clinical and has close contacts with farmers and veterinarians in the region. The university has a strong epidemiology group and several specialists in the field of dairy science and bacteriology. Laboratory equipment and bacteriological culturing expertise are readily available.
The project examines small scale dairying, important for the rural economy, especially for marginalized poor people, primarily women.
Mastitis (inflammation of the udder gland) is a common, but complex problem in dairy cows and causes considerable losses. Therefore, reducing the burden of disease of Mastitis asks for a systematic, science-based approach. The purpose of this 3 year project is to create a sustainable multidisciplinary collaboration between researchers from Bangladesh, France, the Netherlands and Sweden. The project aims to develop an udder health control program (UHCP) that is tailored to the dairy situation in Bangladesh. It will use the existing scientific literature and consult international mastitis experts, to evaluate the currently available mastitis control measures for use in the dairy sector in Bangladesh. Any gaps in the available knowledge will be filled by collecting relevant field data. Furthermore the research group will organize a scientific workshop to collect relevant information and a practical workshop to disseminate the UHCP within the Bangladesh veterinary community. This collaborative project contributes to more sustainable and profitable dairy farming in Bangladesh and thus to poverty alleviation, but also serves as an example of a systematic, evidence-based approach for animal disease control in a developing country. More information about the South Asia related Swedish Research Links grants 2015.