Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS) is a UK registered charity, working with veterinarians and local communities to improve animal welfare in remote or less-developed parts of the world. In these regions, animals suffer terribly due to a lack of veterinary care. These animals urgently need vets with the practical skills to look after them and the power to prevent mistreatment through education.
Since 2003, WVS has been sending teams of vets to deliver veterinary services, providing training for vets to increase standards of care, and shipping urgent vet supplies worldwide. In 2020 alone, throughout the ongoing pandemic, the charity trained over 500 vets and directly treated more than 20,000 sick or injured animals in a COVID-safe way.
In 2021, WVS was delighted to receive a generous grant from the Elise Pilkington Charitable Trust, supporting the team to improve the health and welfare of donkeys in Mozambique, and consequently, the communities in which they live.
“This grant will make a phenomenal difference,” said Dr Luke Gamble, Founder and CEO of WVS. “COVID-19 continues to have terrible consequences for the economy of Mozambique, a country in which two million people are already at risk of acute hunger. The cost of basic goods has increased by 30% in the last two months alone. The impact has been especially hard on communities who depend on working animals for their survival. Donkeys are used for everything, from carrying water to taking goods to market and veterinary care is desperately lacking in many parts of country. This grant will enable vet teams to both treat and prevent the painful conditions so many of these animals endure as a result of their labour.”
The grant of £9,600 will support a mobile clinic run in conjunction with Eduardo Mondlane University to improve the lives of at least 5,000 donkeys. The 12-month campaign will deliver everything from deworming, castration, to dental care, and education on best harnessing practices, in areas with almost no access to any veterinary care.
During a pilot run of the mobile clinic through 2020, the charity has already seen a decrease in whipping injuries and improved body condition scores. It has also given local final-year vet students a chance to gain practical skills, which is otherwise lacking in their curriculum. This education element is helping build up the veterinary capacity needed in areas where people rely on working equines for their survival.
“The support of the Elise Pilkington Trust will alleviate the suffering of donkeys in rural communities,” said Dr Atanásio Vidane, Dean of the Veterinary Extension Centre for Eduardo Mondlane University.
In 2019, when a cyclone and flooding disaster devastated agriculture and added to levels of extreme poverty and hunger, WVS provided critical emergency care to livestock and working equines, and has been working together with the Eduardo Mondlane University to support rural communities ever since.
“The support of the Elise Pilkington Trust will also help us deliver community education and conduct research to improve care donkeys receive going forward. Based on the pilot project, a baseline study has already been carried out and shared with government partners to ensure the inclusion of donkeys in government health programs.”
WVS and the Eduardo Mondlane University are committed to helping animals and the local communities who live alongside them, and they would like to thank the Elise Pilkington Charitable Trust for sharing their life-saving mission.