LIDC’s Director, Professor Claire Heffernan, has successfully led a bid for funding for a project to tackle livestock-derived antimicrobial pollution in the Nairobi River. The success of the bid was made public in the announcement of UKRI-GCRF ‘Clusters Awards’ on 20 November. This funding will support a ground-breaking project led by the Royal Veterinary College and implemented in collaboration with its project partners to filter out pollution in the Nairobi River. The Nairobi River has been ranked among the top ten global waterways in terms of pharmaceutical contamination, posing grave hazards to those who depend on it for health and livelihoods. On receiving news of the award, Professor Heffernan said:

“It’s exciting to be part of such an important project that can have a real impact on the lives of residents of many of the informal settlements of Nairobi – who are dependent on Nairobi River water, one of the most polluted rivers in the world. Antimicrobial pollution is a significant environmental problem, and we hope this project will support a wider solution in this area. We are delighted to be combining efforts with City University, the Royal Vet College, the University of York and our partners in Kenya: the University of Nairobi, Vetworks and the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Institute.”

Learn more about the challenges the project aims to overcome in this blog post from Simon Kihu, Programs Coordinator and Mary Opiyo, Research Scientist (Aquaculture) here or watch a short video about the project below.

Read more about the project on UKRI’s website: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP/T024682/1