November 10th is World Science Day. This day is to remind us of the responsibility that researchers all over the world bear for humanity and the environment. Although it is a human right to benefit from scientific advancements, that right can hardly be claimed, especially in developing countries. Concerning research matters, people in these countries are mostly dependent on foreign...

Today is World Food Day. For an incredible total of 800 million people, sufficient food and clean drinking water are still not a matter of course. At the same time, the quality of food is often poor, especially in developing countries.

In Tanzania, for example, many women are HIV-positive and have to feed their babies with milk powder. However, the quality of the milk powder is...

Milk is susceptible to various kinds of germs, which can be transferred to humans through food and cause infectious diseases. In Austria, strict hygiene measures are taken in each production step, so that dangerous germs do not get into food. Before milking, the udder of the animals is cleaned carefully. Necessary drinking water is available in sufficient quantities. Farmers, dairies and...

In his doctoral thesis at the Vetmeduni Vienna, our Tanzanian employee John Laffa examined which plants the Maasai use to smoke-treat their calabashes. Calabashes serve as vessels to store the milk of the Maasai's cattle.

The trees and shrubs used are also important medicinal plants for the Maasai. They have a wide range of healing properties, including analgesic,...

John Laffa lives in Tanzania and has been a competent employee of Veterinarians without Borders for years. The graduate expert in agriculture, livestock and animal breeding is enroled for a doctorate course in veterinary medicine at the Vetmeduni Vienna (VMU). At the Institute of Milk Hygiene at the VMU he now wrote his doctoral thesis on indigenous Maasai milk hygiene and...

Are you familiar with this: You want to take a good cup of coffee, add some milk and only then you realize that it has turned sour. Each of us who has encountered problems with the shelf-life of dairy products during the hot summer months can imagine the challenges the Maasai in the East African steppe face every day.

The Maasai live there under extreme environmental conditions....

We congratulate our Maasai student Lukca Moreto! As reported, Lucas is studying law at the TUDARCO university in Dar-es-Salaam and has successfully completed his two-year diploma course this summer. Now Luka begins straight with his bachelor's programme, which will take him six semesters to finish.

Luka sent us a video in which he expresses his thanks. Together with him we would like to...

As reported in our blog from 10 Aug 2018, our unbalanced diet presents great ecological challenges for the world. Indigenous peoples, such as the Maasai or Sandawe in East Africa, have been living in harmony with nature for millennia and are vivid examples of sustainability in...

Just twelve crops and five animal species provide 75% of the world’s food. An estimated 940 species of cultivated plants are at risk of disappearing.

Yet there are many forgotten foods that

• can be sustainably produced
• are resilient to our changing climate
• are packed with nutrition.

Read more about this subject <link...

How do pastoralists in Northern Tanzania perceive the influence of climate change on their herds? A recently published study with the title "Climate change perception and impacts on cattle production in pastoral communities of Northern Tanzania" addressed this issue.

The respondents bemoaned more erratic and reduced amounts of rainfall, rise in temperature and prolonged and frequent...