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News & Reports disaster medicine
Fresh LEGS for emergencies AN event at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in London on February 9 marked the publication of the second edition of the Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards (LEGS). The event was streamed live on the ODI’s website, allowing viewers from around the world to listen to the discussion and question the speakers. It provided an opportunity for people to learn more about the LEGS approach and to discuss wider issues surrounding livelihood-based support to livestock keepers in emergencies. The first edition of the LEGS was published in 2009 in response to concerns that, in emergencies, interventions dealing with livestock were often inappropriate, poorly designed, or delivered too late. The LEGS project organisers note that, in areas where natural or man-made disasters occur, the rush to Photograph: Kelley Lynch/Save the Children USA
Millions of people worldwide rely on animals for their livelihoods. The Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards aim to ensure that, in disaster and emergency situations, livestock are not overlooked and interventions can be properly designed and implemented
put humanitarian aid in place can often result in livestock being overlooked, yet millions of people worldwide depend on livestock for their livelihoods. The LEGS handbook contains international standards for the design, implementation and assessment of livestock interventions to help people affected by humanitarian crises (and is the companion of the Sphere handbook, which sets out a humanitarian charter and minimum standards in humanitarian response). As well as the handbook, the LEGS Project runs a global awareness raising and training programme to promote the use and future revision of the guidelines. The LEGS are overseen by a steering group which includes individuals from the African Union, the FAO, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Tufts University, Vetwork UK and the World Society for the Protection of Animals. Andy Catley, chair of the steering group, said that the guidelines had been revised and redesigned based on feedback received on the first edition. Key improvements, he said, included information on cash and voucher transfers, climate change, support for livestock in camps, gender issues and animal welfare. Hard copies of the handbook can be ordered from Practical Action Publishing, www.developmentbookshop.com, while a pdf of the book can be downloaded free of charge from www.livestockemergency.net doi: 10.1136/vr.h1074 February 28, 2015 | Veterinary Record | 219
Downloaded from http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/ on May 2, 2015 - Published by group.bmj.com
Fresh LEGS for emergencies
Veterinary Record 2015 176: 219
doi: 10.1136/vr.h1074 Updated information and services can be found at: http://veterinaryrecord.bmj.com/content/176/9/219
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