Cambodian vets see UK practice

Transcription

1 Vet Times The website for the veterinary profession Cambodian vets see UK practice Author : SUZANNE ROGERS Categories : Vets Date : October 20, 2014 SUZANNE ROGERS BSc(Hons) describes life as a vet in Cambodia, a programme to improve equine welfare there and two Cambodian vets experience of witnessing practice in the UK CAMBODIAN vets Rinda Nop and Piseth Hang visited the UK for the seventh International Colloquium on Working Equids, hosted by World Horse Welfare (WHW). They combined the trip with spending a day shadowing the equine vet team at Priory Veterinary Surgeons in Reigate, Surrey and two further days training in community outreach with myself, an animal welfare consultant specialising in community-based outreach with equine owners internationally. This article provides insights into the activities of an equine vet in Cambodia and how it compares to veterinary medicine in the UK through their eyes. Cambodia Cambodia is a developing country that is still considered one of the poorest in the world. Outside the city of Phnom Penh many communities still rely on a family pony as their main source of transport. Cambodia has a population of around 14,000 ponies and typical welfare concerns include exhaustion (from being overworked in hot conditions with too great a load), lameness, colic, injury, wounds and inappropriate care. Before 2008 no vets specialised in equine medicine there and veterinary activity was focused on agriculture, disease surveillance and vaccination programmes for production animals. Welfare organisations 1 / 10

2 In Cambodia the route to becoming a vet is to study agriculture and later focus on veterinary science. In 2008 there was no further opportunity to specialise in equines, as Mr Nop and Mr Hang were keen to do, so they contacted the Lampang Pony Welfare Organisation (LPWO) in Thailand for advice. At that time, LPWO was considering expanding to neighbouring Cambodia and, before long, the Cambodian Pony Welfare Organisation (CPWO) was born. The vets received training in Thailand before returning to Cambodia to provide a mobile clinic focusing on deworming, vaccinations and an emergency response service. However, a key element of the project was to carry out preventive work engaging with owners to change the way they cared for, and worked, their ponies. This part of the project was termed human behaviour change and it was what first brought me to Cambodia. I first visited Cambodia in 2008 as programmes manager for the equine projects run by an international animal welfare organisation that funded CPWO. My role was to train the team in how to run the changing human behaviour component of their work. The vets were quick to learn how to run group discussions and exercises (such as exploring causes of typical problems and how to recognise and prevent them) with groups of pony owners. Since then I have visited numerous times, seen the project develop and the changes it has facilitated for example, owners now provide ponies with water in their stables, have increased the size of stables so their animals have somewhere comfortable to rest and can recognise the signs of colic and lameness more quickly. It has also been challenging to change the way ponies are worked, but owners are now taking care to ensure the loads are balanced and stop regularly for short periods to provide opportunity for rest and drinking. They have pride in the changes made and a desire to share their knowledge. Cambodian vet life Typical activities as a Cambodian vet include responding to emergencies often colic or injuries. With only three fully qualified equine vets in the country the journey across unmade roads can take up to six hours, so aftercare is provided by telephone. Routine work includes visiting communities on a three-monthly rota. Here, deworming is undertaken alongside the community engagement work. Groups of owners gather to do the exercises facilitated by the vets and join in discussions about common problems and how to avoid them. Mr Hang describes a case where changes have been made. He said: Today, CPWO vets visited one pony owner at Leuk Dek district. We saw some changes from this man; before he did not care whether to keep his pony in the shade or under the sun, but now he always keeps his pony in the shade with food and water when he stops using his pony. Before he didn t care about the stable, 2 / 10

3 even if it was small, dirty or had no mosquito net, but now he has a big, clean stable with a mosquito net, and food and water available all the time. Before he believed giving more sugar would make his pony strong, but now he gives salt instead because he knows the importance of giving salt to his pony. Other work includes running training courses in conjunction with WHW for farriery and harnessing, and working with the Cambodian Country Club a leisure club for the elite that aims to raise the profile of the horse through equestrianism. Daily work also includes monitoring the projects and, of course, continually fund-raising to keep the project sustainable. CPWO is working to develop the veterinary capacity in Cambodia; to this end it set up the Cambodian Veterinary Association and oversees student projects for the next generation of vets. Seeing UK practice A trip to the UK was not part of the typical activities for CPWO; it was Mr Nop and Mr Hang s first time on an aeroplane, apart from short journeys to Thailand. Expectations were high; the two vets had heard a lot about technologies available in the UK and were especially interested to visit such an established country. They were to be hosted for one day by the Priory team in Reigate. Partner Amber Batson has visited Cambodia several times to provide interactive training with the vets and, more recently, conducted an impact assessment of the project. Priory Veterinary Surgeons has four branches the equine team is run from the Reigate branch, where five equine vets meet in the morning to plan their visits before going their separate ways. Mr Nop spent the day with Ms Batson, and Mr Hang with John Baart. First, Ms Batson had to see a feline emergency case, which included performing an ultrasound. The difference in vet medicine between the two countries was immediately apparent; in Cambodia ultrasound is not widely available, even for human patients, and cats are not valued as companion animals. However, as the day unfolded it also became clear to the vets welfare issues aren t just limited to developing countries. In the UK, obesity and its associated problems is a significant issue, as is inappropriate care that fails to meet animals needs. Our guests were surprised to learn owners can be prosecuted for animal cruelty, as this is not the case in Cambodia. Mr Nop said: I had a great opportunity to spend a day with Amber to see many different cases, using modern equipment, such as endoscopy, ultrasound and shockwave therapy, and saw lifestyles of equines in the UK countryside. My most interesting case during this visit was seeing an operation on a horse s head while it was standing. This is new to me and we will use this experience to deal with real cases in our country when we meet similar cases to these. However, perhaps one of the most disturbing things to our visitors was the tendency for vets not to have lunch, or at least have lunch on the go in the Cambodian working day, everything stops for a full lunch. 3 / 10

4 Ms Batson summarised the day: Priory equine vets enjoyed the opportunity to show Rinda and Piseth the average working day of a UK equine vet. The vets experienced a variety of diagnostic aids in use endoscopy, ultrasound, radiography and a variety of treatment modalities, such as shockwave therapy, medicines and standing surgery. While some of these techniques are not available or necessary for use in Cambodia, the experience of seeing a case load based on treatment of injured or diseased individual animals, as opposed to preventive health care for communities, will hopefully have been of interest. Next, the Cambodian team spent two days with myself to discuss the community engagement elements of their work. We reviewed progress to date and, although a formal impact assessment is still being completed, it is evident changes are happening that make a real difference to the daily lives of the hard-working ponies. Mr Hang said: The owners have stopped feeding fermented bran because it causes colic and they don t want to spend time treating the pony because it can t work and costs money in treatment. So they have changed and maintained those changes for three or more years. Owners don t tend to have the same problem again after they have engaged with us and learned about colic. Also, the owners now say to each other don t hit your horse. We invented more ways of explaining key concepts to owners in a way that would resonate with them, we ve devised new frameworks to facilitate discussion on some of the most challenging things to change and we discussed setting up a reward scheme for owners who ve made the most improvements and a regional event to showcase best practice and share knowledge through communities. Since the meeting, the charity Change For Animals Foundation has agreed to fund this scheme. Inspired Mr Nop and Mr Hang returned to Cambodia full of renewed enthusiasm for a mission to improve the welfare of ponies across Cambodia. At the colloquium they had the opportunity to share experiences with many people working in similar situations, with impoverished communities dependent on working equines for their livelihoods. Through the vets time in the UK they learned horses are suffering across the world, but if we all do what we can in our corner we can make changes one pony, one community, one country, at a time. 4 / 10

5 Cambodian vets Rinda Nop (left) and Piseth Hang. 5 / 10

6 A boy brings his pony to the mobile clinic. 6 / 10

7 Community discussions. 7 / 10

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10 A traditional cure for colic is to use monkey blood on the lips of ponies; since the project began this practice has declined dramatically, which is good news for both ponies and monkeys. 10 / 10 Powered by TCPDF (