PhD Graduate Fellowship
About the position
The overall health and
economic burden arising from meat contamination are likely to be substantial.
Although precise estimates on returns to improved hygiene and safety standards
in slaughterhouses are missing, the costs of meat contamination and
transmission to food systems imply that returns to these interventions are
likely to be very large. The lack of adequate hygiene and sanitation facilities
in slaughterhouses in developing countries is an important impediment to the
practice of international hygiene standards. In Kenya, poor working conditions,
including hygiene and sanitation facilities at slaughterhouses have been shown
to lead to contamination of meat and transmission of pathogens. Inadequate
infrastructure, resource constraints among regulatory bodies, and low levels of
awareness among those who produce, trade and process animals about the adverse
occupational and public health risks associated with meat contamination compound
this problem. Improving hygiene practices at slaughterhouses is crucial to
reduce contamination of meat in food system, mainly because large number of
animals ultimately pass through them.
Through this activity, we
will develop and test, through a randomized controlled trial, an intervention
to limit the spread of pathogens at slaughterhouses in Western Kenya through
hygiene and meat handling practices. Counties to be included in the study are
Bungoma, Kakamega, Busia, and Siaya. The goal of the research project is to
test potential approaches to improve hygiene and meat handling practices at
formally registered slaughter facilities in Western Kenya.
Responsibilities of the fellow:
- Contribute
to designing an intervention to assess the impact of training and
improving hygiene on practices and carcass contamination in abattoirs.
- Designing
data and sample collection methods.
- Microbiological
analysis of samples to identify bacteria, quantify contamination,
molecular methods to identify pathogens.
- Different
methods to determine antimicrobial resistance including disc diffusion and
molecular methods.
- Analysis
of quantitative and qualitative data associated with the intervention.
- Economic
assessment of the costs of the intervention.
- Preparing
manuscripts for publications and presentation at international conferences.
- Submission
of thesis in accordance with university guidelines.
- Contribute
to policy briefs.
Minimum requirements
The ideal candidate should:
- Possess
a bachelor’s in veterinary science degree.
- Hold
an MSc in Microbiology.
- Demonstrate
previous experience conducting field work particularly quantitative and
qualitative data collection.
- Have
experience in laboratory methods, in particular, microbiology (culture,
disk diffusions) and PCR.
- Have
demonstrable experience analyzing quantitative and qualitative data.
- Demonstrate
publication record.
