People work their ancestral land and often live very basically, relative to first world modern standards, growing their own produce in close-knit communities.

Within the villages, domestic dogs are kept by families where they earn their keep as guard dogs, hunters and pets.

Times are often hard and having little or no monetary value, with no veterinary services available to these communities, the dogs feel it the most.

Over-breading, malnutrition, starvation, disease and infections are common.

The issues with domestic dogs translate into serious problems for the families and the whole community.

Neglected Zoonotic diseases are diseases which are transferred from animals to man and are having a dramatic adverse effect on human health in rural communities.

For example, it is estimated that almost one billion people in developing countries around the world are infected with one or more helminths (parasitic worms).

Any person can be affected but school aged children, pre-school children and adolescents harbor the greatest numbers of intestinal worms. (source: research carried out by the University of Zambia, 2013).

Although effective and relatively inexpensive solutions exist, there are currently no protocols adopted by the relevant government health departments in dealing with the problem.