Vet wins award for chicken vaccine work

A Sydney vet has been recognised for her decades of work to protect village chickens in developing countries from a deadly and preventable disease.

Dr Robyn Alders won the inaugural Mitchell Humanitarian Award at a ceremony at Australian National University on Wednesday night.

With support from the Australian aid budget she trialled and rolled out a new vaccine Australian scientists developed to protect chickens from the Newcastle Disease Virus.

Poor families rely on chickens for protein, micronutrients and cash.

Between 1999 and 2012, the number of chickens vaccinated in Mozambique, Tanzania and Malawi increased from about one million to almost 20 million.

The vaccine is also being taken up in parts of Asia.

The award is named after philanthropist and businessman Harold Mitchell.