This December and January, Inga and Colin will be heading to Nepal, this time to work with the Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU) in Chitwan. We'll also be supported by our colleague Michelle who's now based out there as well as the wonderful team at Himalayan Animal Rescue Trust (HART).

AFU is one of the four universities providing veterinary education in Nepal. The students go through a four-year course before graduating as Bachelor of veterinary science and animal husbandry. Unfortunately, their exposure to practical veterinary medicine is minimal and upon graduation, the students don't have the skills and experience needed to practice their profession. Opportunities to work with more experienced vets in the beginning of their careers is extremely limited in Nepal and for this reason, the majority of the students end up seeking further academic education abroad leaving Nepal short of clinical veterinarians.

Our goal is to provide the 4th year vet students with the basic clinical skills needed to stay and practice in Nepal after their graduation. These include conducting a basic clinical examination, giving injections, providing sufficient analgesia in different situations, how to perform safe anaesthesia and basic surgery, animal welfare and veterinary ethics, to mention but a few. In addition to this, we educate the students in One Health topics such as rabies control and responsible use of antimicrobials, antimicrobial resistance emerging from the developing world being one of the biggest global threats to human health of the 21st century.

Please help us to help the animals of Nepal and to increase Nepali vets' awareness of their role as guardians of both animal and human health!