Ethnoveterinary medicine for animal health care

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Ethnoveterinary medicine for animal health care

CanadaVancouver, Canada
Organization type: 
nonprofit/ngo/citizen sector
Project Stage:
Scaling
Budget: 
$1,000 - $10,000
Website:
http://www.indiegogo.com/p/158852
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Project Summary
Elevator Pitch

Concise Summary: Help us pitch this solution! Provide an explanation within 3-4 short sentences.

Anthelmintics are expensive and administration of them is time consuming. The use of anti-microbial drugs is problematic. Solution - Ethnoveterinary medicine.

About Project

Problem: What problem is this project trying to address?

Ethnoveterinary medicine is the scientific term for traditional animal health care. Research into ethnoveterinary medicine is often undertaken as part of a community-based approach that can contribute to farm incomes, maintain the resilience of farm communities, promote self-reliance and contribute to a safe and good quality food supply; in addition to providing improved and affordable livestock health care. It can strengthen rural community capacity building, leadership and skills development. As such it can serve as a contributor to the economic survival for needy communities; A widely disseminated ethnoveterinary manual can help preserve the ethnomedicinal heritage of British Columbia. The manual would provide a locally-based sustainable long-term solution to animal health problems.

Solution: What is the proposed solution? Please be specific!

Disseminating ethnoveterinary medicines which are community-derived technological solutions to farmers’ animal health problems that are based on affordable traditional knowledge. A manual already exists: Bevan J, Lans C, Mathias M. (Eds). 2004. Alternative animal health care in British Columbia. A manual of traditional practices used by herbalists, veterinarians, farmers and animal caretakers. The Traditional Animal Health Care Collaborative. University of Victoria. SSHRC funding: Traditional animal health care in British Columbia. I propose to add removable data collecting forms with my address to the existing manual and print enough copies for each library in British Columbia. Borrowers with ethnoveterinary knowledge can fill in the forms and post them to me. I can validate the knowledge using the UBC library and online databases and add the new ethnoveterinary practices to future versions of the ethnoveterinary manual. This solution eliminates the need for transportation funding.
Impact: How does it Work

Example: Walk us through a specific example(s) of how this solution makes a difference; include its primary activities.

Affordable and available health care is an important constraint to animal production in many rural communities. Farmers need low-cost alternatives to veterinary drugs. Sheep farmers in Ontario and British Columbia have claimed that sustainable production is not economically viable because of internal parasites. A manual already exists: Bevan J, Lans C, Mathias M. (Eds). 2004. Alternative animal health care in British Columbia. A manual of traditional practices used by herbalists, veterinarians, farmers and animal caretakers. The Traditional Animal Health Care Collaborative. University of Victoria. Original funding came from the SSHRC Research Development Initiative Project Title: Traditional animal health care in British Columbia: Testing an innovative dissemination method. Most of the data was collected from March to November 2003. The research area covered the most populated parts of British Columbia: Vancouver Island as far north as Port Alberni, the lower mainland and areas in the Interior (Armstrong, Chase, Salmon Arm, Kelowna,Cawston and Fauquier). I will add removable data collecting forms with my address to the existing manual and print enough copies for each library in British Columbia. Library borrowers with ethnoveterinary knowledge can fill in the forms and post them to me. I can validate the ethnoveterinary knowledge that they have provided on these forms using the UBC library and online databases and add the new ethnoveterinary practices to future versions of the ethnoveterinary manual. This solution eliminates the need for transportation funding.
Sustainability

Marketplace: Who else is addressing the problem outlined here? How does the proposed project differ from these approaches?

Everyone working in holistic animal health care is both peer and competitor. Sixty research participants in 2003 were either organic farmers, animal breeders and trainers, or other specialists in alternative medicine and holistic veterinarians. They were willing to share their knowledge in order to obtain a manual of all the documented practices. Since I am a interested in research, validation and dissemination, I may undercut the sales of a few practitioners but I may also interest members of the general public to investigate holistic practitioners. I have spent years validating the practices and publishing them which people with clinics would not have time to do. I live close to the UBC library. Larger university libraries are more likely to have the necessary journals and books.
Team

Founding Story

Ethnoveterinary medicines used to treat endoparasites and stomach problems in pigs and pets in British Columbia, Canada was published in Veterinary Parasitology, September 2007, Pages 325-340 Lans, C.; Turner, N.; Khan, T.; Brauer, G. It was in the top 25 most downloaded category in the Agricultural and Biological Sciences for 4 years. Veterinary Parasitology July to September 2007 # 4. October to December 2007 #2 January to March 2008 #5 April to June 2008 #9July to September 2008 #5 January to March 2009 #22April to June 2009 #8 July to September 2009 #20 January to March 2010 #22 April to June 2010 #13October 2009 - September 2010 Academic Year #18October to December 2010 #24. My work was replicated on the cheap in the Netherlands so I protested. Dutch- Vet Parasitol. 2011 Jun10;178(3-4):389-90; authorreply 391.Validation of ethnoveterinarymedicinal treatments. Lans C.Comment on Anthelmintic effects ofphytogenic feed additives in Ascaris suum inoculated pigs.[Vet Parasitol. 2010]
About You
Organization:
Lanstales
About You
First Name

Cheryl

Last Name

Lans

About Your Organization
Organization Name

Lanstales

Organization Country

, BC, Vancouver

Country where this solution is creating social impact

, BC

Region in BC where your solution creates social impact

Vancouver, Coast and Mountains, Vancouver Island, Thompson Okanagan, Kootenay Rockies.

How long has your organization been operating?

More than 5 years

The information you provide here will be used to fill in any parts of your profile that have been left blank, such as interests, organization information, and website. No contact information will be made public. Please uncheck here if you do not want this to happen..

Innovation
How long have you been in operation?

Operating for more than 5 years

Which of the following best describes the barrier(s) your solution addresses? Choose up to two

Access.

Social Impact
Please describe the goal of your initiative; outline what you are trying to achieve

o To help agricultural rural communities share their alternative solutions for animal health problems and disseminate the already collected ethnoveterinary practices in British Columbia.
o To update a manual on ethnoveterinary medicine in British Columbia by putting data collection forms into the back of printed copies that will be placed in each library in British Columbia.
The manual describes the preparation, use and efficacy of ethnoveterinary medicines in a form that is relevant to British Columbia and globally, and it can be understood by farmers and the general public. The manual is not designed to replace standard veterinary information. Sixty copies were given to research participants in 2004. Now I hope to place a copy in each BC library and to update the information.

What has been the impact of your solution to date?

Ethnoveterinary medicines used to treat endoparasites and stomach problems in pigs and pets in BC, Canada. 17 citations
Plants used in rearing locally-grown organic small-scale poultry and rabbits in BC, Canada. Current Nutrition & Food Science 8(3): 220-234. Requested reprint of the 2010 paper.
Organic parasite control for poultry and rabbits in British Columbia, Canada. J Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 7:21
Medicinal plants used in British Columbia, Canada for reproductive health in pets. Preventive Vet Med 90: 268 – 273. 4 citations
Medicinal plant treatments for fleas and ear problems of cats and dogs in British Columbia, Canada. Parasitology Research 103 (4): 889-898. 5 citations
Ethnoveterinary medicines used for ruminants in British Columbia, Canada. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 3(1):11. 48 citations
Ethnoveterinary medicines used for horses in Trinidad and in British Columbia, Canada. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2 (1): 31. 18 citations

What is your projected impact over the next five years?

The manual will be disseminated throughout BC at low cost. Library borrowers can use the manual to contribute to rural incomes, maintain the resilience of rural communities, promote self-reliance and contribute to an internationally recognized safe and good quality food supply; in addition to providing improved and affordable livestock health care. It will strengthen rural community capacity building, leadership and skills development. As such it fits the mandate of serving as a contributor to the economic survival for needy communities. The interest in sustainable agriculture is driven by several concerns: revival of the small family farm; a general unease with the impacts of agribusiness practices; a desire for greater levels of civic engagement, and the hope for profits.

What barriers might hinder the success of your project? How do you plan to overcome them?

Library borrowers may not know of the manual or that they can add information on the data forms at the back and return these.
Reminders through the library system that the manual is available and that data forms can be filled in and returned. Reminders through farm and rural newsletters and bulletins. Borrowers may not consider their knowledge to be valuable. Again ask the libraries to link to my slideshare presentations and already published research papers.

Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1

Create data forms, insert them in manual. Print manual.

Task 2

Send manuals to all libraries. Obtain list of all libraries. See if main library can handle distribution to all others.

Task 3

Reminders that the data forms should be filled in and returned.

Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1

Start validating the information on the returned data forms.

Task 2

Add the new data to the existing manual.

Task 3

Print the updated manual and devise a dissemination plan.

Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships

Professional co-authors Professor Nancy Turner and Dr. Tonya Khan DVM. Farmer co-authors are Willi Boepple, Victoria, BC and Jan Bevan, Hornby Island. A future co-author will be Kerry Hackett a Medical Herbalist located in Southern Ontario I also collaborate with Drs A.G.M. (Tedje) van Asseldonk IEZ: Institute for Ethnobotany and Zoopharmacognosy, the Netherlands. She disseminates my research through her institutional publications.

Are you currently targeting other specific populations, locations, or markets for your solution? If so, where and why?

No. It is specific to BC.

What type of operating environment and internal organizational factors make your innovation successful?

It is claimed that only drug companies with sales of US$5 billion can engage in traditional validation and drug discovery so this research will evaluate the ethnoveterinary plants used with a non-experimental method. This method consists of:

1. obtaining an accurate botanical identification
2. determining whether the folk data can be understood in terms of bioscientific concepts and methods
3. searching the chemical / pharmaceutical/ pharmacological literature for the plant’s known chemical constituents and to determine the known physiological effects of either the crude plant, related species, or isolated chemical compounds that the plant is known to contain. To assess whether the plant use is based on empirically verifiable principles.

Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list

I will need volunteers to contribute time to remind borrowers that the manual is available and that is has forms that can be filled out and returned.

Comments

I have many papers, 11 of them on PubMed, 6 of which are open access and none of which were funded. The research funded ended when the data was collected. I need to pay for the research write up time and find funds for future research.My papers are in the top 10 most downloaded category on more than one journal and have been in the top 25 hottest on Science Direct. They have many citations. Other people do the same kind of research but they do not validate it scientifically the way that I do. My validation process means that people can judge how useful the medicinal plants are even if they are never tested in clinical trials. If companies can't make a profit from the plants they don't test them in clinical trials because of the costs involved.

My research is usually participatory and people benefit at once and from the publications which are usually open access.