A smartphone application developed with IDRC support is helping primary animal health workers (PAHWs) in Laos PDR to quickly and accurately answer questions and treat poultry. The app is also helping farmers raise healthier animals and improve their own food security.
Access to relevant and timely information is a major challenge for PAHWs due to limited capacity, resources, and expertise. The application was designed, tested, and found to be a convenient and user-friendly tool for learning and sharing with other farmers.
The project was implemented by Veterinarians without Borders-Canada and its partner, the National University of Laos. Project staff and participating PAHWs set out to test the effectiveness of smartphone-based knowledge mobilization technology for building the capacity of PAHWs in animal farming practices. The app's language and navigation panel were simplified after local consultations. The prototype application is now available in English and Lao. Sharing information through photos turned out to be of particular interest to the PAHWs. The next research phase will build on this pilot project and focus on developing an application for cattle production, and widening the use of Internet and picture-sharing technology.