Development of Udder Health Control Program for dairy cows in Bangladesh

Read more about SVA's involvement in global development here.

Small scale dairying is important for the rural economy, especially for marginalized poor people, primarily women. Mastitis (inflammation of the udder gland) is a common, but complexproblemin 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 fromBangladesh, France, the
Netherlands and Sweden. With this team, we aim to develop an udder health control program(UHCP) that is tailored to the dairy situation in Bangladesh.

We 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. We will organize a scientific workshop to collect relevant in formation 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. We anticipate that this project will strengthen and expand our network, creating a sound basis for future collaborative research efforts.

Publications

Incidence, Etiology, and Risk Factors of Clinical Mastitis in Dairy Cows under Semi-Tropical Circumstances in Chattogram, Bangladesh (2021)

Subclinical mastitis in dairy cows in south-Asian countries: a review of risk factors and etiology to prioritize control measures (2022)