The association Zambesi Health e.V. has been supporting the Vet Camp in Kazungula, Zambia, since 2016. The head of the camp, Athenesious Hamankolo (Athens), looks after over 30,000 farm animals and pets in his area of responsibility. Despite the many threats posed by diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease, anthrax, pneumonic plague, Newcastle disease and rabies, there are often not enough vaccines available. Zambesi supports him in setting up and running his veterinary base. Through financial support and the supply of medicines, equipment and vaccines, the association was able to support the renovation of the building, the provision of office equipment and the installation of a solar-powered refrigerator for medicines.
Vetcamp 2016-2024
n May 2016, the association’s chairwoman visited the Vet. camp in Kazungula, Zambia, to meet its director, Athenesious Hamankolo (Athens), in person and to hand over veterinary equipment. Athens supplies the livestock and pets in its area of responsibility from there. This part of the initial equipment for the future Kazungula Veterinary Clinic was provided free of charge by the Bärenwiese veterinary practice in Berlin. In November 2016, the clinic was able to commence operations on a modest scale, as many things were still lacking. First we have to renovate.
Thanks to the financial support of our members in Germany, we were able to support the renovation of the building, provide office equipment including a computer and printer and install a solar-powered refrigerator for the medicines. Time and again, we support the Vet Camp with vaccines of all kinds and veterinary consumables, some of which are simply not available in Zambia. Our automatic vaccination gun, which can vaccinate up to 300 cattle per hour, is a great help.
Athens and the animals
Athenesious Hamankolo (Athens), a family man with a strong character and an avid soccer fan, turned 50 in 2016. He lives with his wife and their five sons and three daughters in Zambia, near the former ferry connection to Botswana in Kazungula. Since 2003, Athens has been running the Kazungula Vet. Camp.
His responsibility is huge: the livestock he looks after in the Kazungula district includes more than 6600 cattle, 3800 goats, 150 sheep, 300 pigs, 15,000 chickens, 250 ducks, 400 guinea fowl and 150 donkeys as well as 4000 dogs and 200 cats – more than 30,000 animals in total.
Humans and animals are threatened by a variety of diseases. For example, foot-and-mouth disease(FMD), contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) and anthrax are particularly widespread among cattle. The greatest threats to poultry flocks include the highly contagious Newcastle disease (NDV), infectious bursitis (IBD) and parasitic coccidiosis.
Lack of vaccines
Rabies is the most dangerous disease in dogs. Many of these diseases could be prevented with vaccinations, but the necessary vaccines are often not available. However, these are urgently needed, for example to vaccinate cattle against FMD twice a year and around 9,000 chickens against NDV every quarter.
The non-profit association Zambesi Health – founded in the fall of 2016 – has set itself the goal of establishing and supporting a veterinary base there in order to improve the supply situation in the long term. Further visits followed in March and August 2017, 2018, 2019 (2x), 2020 and 2022 (2x) and 2023.
Vet in the bush
Athens hopes that he will have the medicines required for the treatment permanently in stock at the new veterinary clinic. In principle, the responsibility for this lies with the Zambian state veterinary system. Unfortunately, there is often a lack of many things or the quantities provided are insufficient.
In addition, a means of transportation is just as important for him to reach the farms up to 300 km away. In the rainy season in particular, the number of illnesses increases when it becomes even more difficult or even impossible to get there without your own vehicle. His motorcycle therefore proves to be extremely helpful. It enables him to make a more precise assessment of animal populations and improve the planning of their treatment. He can also vaccinate the dogs in his area once a year. Our association therefore also supports him with repairs to this vital means of transportation and regularly supplies the clinic with medicines.
