SHMPA trains Malawian women in adequate administration of animal medicines

Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health today announced that it has initiated a multy-year sponsorship project, supporting the Shire Highlands Milk Producers Association (SHMPA) in Malawi, a developing country in southeast Africa. The primary objective of the project is to support smallholder dairy farmers in the Shire Highlands to improve their capabilities to manage the milk production process.

Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health will provide financial and in-kind support that can annually be adapted as specified by SHMPA. Support will initially focus on increasing milk production by improvement of animal health and infrastructure. Short-term projects include the provision of funds to build and equip a veterinary laboratory as well as the supply of some urgently needed veterinary diagnostics and medicines. The scope of the support may also be extended to the improvement of milk quality, animal husbandry (nutrition, reproduction and breeding) and farm management. In-kind support may consist of the sharing of veterinary expertise as well as offering education and training.

"The challenges in dairy farming in this part of the world are many, and the road to progress is far from smooth, but most of the time in the right direction. Some of our biggest challenges are making sure that milk farmers have access to artificial insemination and veterinary services. We hope that through our links with Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health we will improve these services", commented SHMPA Dairy Development Advisor Brian Lewis.

"We are proud to be able, with the help of veterinarians who purchase our products, to assist milk farmers in the Shire Highlands in a sustainable manner that contributes to economic improvement in Southern Malawi," said Edival Santos, Head of the Global Ruminants Business Unit at Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health.

Materials will preferably be sourced on site, thereby sustaining the local economy. The funds are earmarked for specific objectives and SHMPA management will be responsible for using these resources efficiently and reporting on their allocation.

Funding will be generated by customer-focused, sales-related incentive programs linked to the cattle business of participating operations. This model is already being used successfully by Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health to support the Afya Serengeti project, a dog rabies eradication program in Tanzania (www.afya.org).

About Shire Highlands Milk Producers Association (SHMPA)
The Shire Highlands Milk Producers Association (SHMPA) is a farmers’ cooperative that was founded in 1985 and offers support to small-scale dairy farmers in the Shire Highlands region of Malawi. SHMPA provides its members with veterinary services (medicines, artificial insemination, feed), training and education, credit facilities as well as milk collection logistics.

About Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health
Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health is focused on the research, development, manufacturing and marketing of animal health products. The company offers customers one of the broadest, most innovative Animal Health portfolios, spanning products to support performance and to prevent, treat and control disease in all major farm and companion animal species. The company is based in Boxmeer, The Netherlands. For more information about Intervet/Schering-Plough Animal Health visit: www.intervet.com

Schering-Plough is an innovation-driven, science-centered global health care company. Through its own biopharmaceutical research and collaborations with partners, Schering-Plough creates therapies that help save and improve lives around the world. The company applies its research-and-development platform to human prescription, animal health and consumer health care products. Schering-Plough’s vision is to "Earn Trust, Every Day" with the doctors, patients, customers and other stakeholders served by its colleagues around the world. The company is based in Kenilworth, N.J., and its Web site is www.schering-plough.com

Schering-Plough

Schering-Plough

Schering-Plough is a research-based company engaged in the discovery, development, manufacturing and marketing of pharmaceutical products worldwide.

More from Schering-Plough