Community Animal Health Workers (CAHW)
CAHWs are members of the rural community who have been trained to provide basic animal health care. In areas where professional veterinarians are scarce or absent, they are often the first point of contact for animal health care. Their training enables them to provide vaccinations, anti-parasite treatments and first aid, as well as advice on animal nutrition and reproduction.
In these remote areas, CAHWs are essential for keeping livestock healthy, improving rural communities’ livelihoods, food security and resilience. They also help prevent the spread of zoonotic diseases, and play an important role in educating livestock farmers about sustainable livestock management practices.
Despite their crucial role, CAHWs face a number of significant challenges. Lack of legal recognition in some countries can limit their ability to provide services and obtain essential medical supplies. In addition, they need ongoing access to training to keep up to date with the latest veterinary practices and emerging health challenges.
Significant steps towards strengthening CAHWs systems
The VSF International network has been working with CAHWs for over thirty years. Every year, we train and mentor over 4,000 CAHWs worldwide, building their technical capacity, supporting sustainable business models and integrating them into local and national animal health systems and regulatory frameworks, in collaboration with public and private veterinarians.
Policy Brief
In 2018, VSF International published a policy brief on CAHWs, highlighting their importance and revealing the challenges they face in effectively fulfilling their mission.
WOAH/VSF International project on CAHWs
In 2022, VSF International launched in collaboration with the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), and with funding from the United States Agency for International Development’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (USAID-BHA), the project “Strengthening the enabling environment for community animal health workers (CAHWs) through development of competency and curricula guidelines” to support CAHWs by advocating for their legal recognition and providing a framework for their training.
Research on CAHW sustainability factors
After conducting a literature review on CAHWs in Africa and Asia, in 2023 VSF International and its members carried out case studies in four countries: Burundi, Cambodia, South Sudan and Niger.
Handbook for planning and managing CAHW programmes
Building on the results from the literature review and the in-country case studies, VSF International has developed the Handbook for planning and managing CAHW programmes. The Handbook complements WOAH Competency and Curriculum Guidelines for Community Animal Health Workers.
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What is a CAHW ?
“A Community Animal Health Worker (CAHW) is a person selected from or by their own community and provided with short, initial, or recurring vocational training to perform basic animal health and animal husbandry-related services, in line with national animal welfare standards. CAHWs operate on a fee for service basis or some other means, are accountable to a registered veterinarian, a registered VPP, or an appropriate official; and are active in their community. CAHWs can also play an important role in a range of sanitary tasks such as disease reporting.”
WOAH ad hoc group working definition, 2024
