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Humans have never been healthier, wealthier or more numerous. Yet, present success may be at the cost of future prosperity and in some places, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, poverty persists. Livestock keepers, especially pastoralists, are over-represented among the poor. Poverty has been mainly attributed to a lack of access, whether to goods, education or enabling institutions. More recent insights suggest ecosystems may influence poverty and the self-reinforcing mechanisms that constitute poverty traps in more subtle ways. The plausibility of zoonoses as poverty traps is strengthened by landmark studies on disease burden in recent years. While in theory, endemic zoonoses are best controlled in the animal host, in practice, communities are often left to manage disease themselves, with the focus on treatment rather than prevention. We illustrate this with results from a survey on health costs in a pastoral ecosystem. Epidemic zoonoses are more likely to elicit official responses, but these can have unintended consequences that deepen poverty traps. In this context, a systems understanding of disease control can lead to more effective and pro-poor disease management. We illustrate this with an example of how a system dynamics model can help optimize responses to Rift Valley fever outbreaks in Kenya by giving decision makers real-time access to the costs of the delay in vaccinating. In conclusion, a broader, more ecological understanding of poverty and of the appropriate responses to the diseases of poverty can contribute to improved livelihoods for livestock keepers in Africa.This article is part of the themed issue ‘One Health for a changing world: zoonoses, ecosystems and human well-being’.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons AttributionNonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. SummarySomalia, one of the world's poorest countries, has livestock as the mainstay of the economy, with an estimated 65% of the population engaged in the livestock sector. This paper presents a gendered study on the traditional livestock breeding practices of Somali pastoralists for camels, cattle, sheep and goats, with a focus on documenting livestock traits of importance, the criteria used to select male breeding animals and the criteria used to cull female breeding animals. Data for the study were obtained by performing participatory rural appraisals (PRAs) with separate male and female pastoral groups from 20 settlements of the Tog-Dheer region of Somaliland (in north-western Somalia). In total, more than 500 pastoralists were involved. In terms of livestock ownership, goats were the most common species kept (97% of all households), followed by sheep (64%), camels (37%) and cattle (9%), with considerable herd size variation across households. Traits of key importance to the pastoralists varied by species and gender of the PRA group, but included adaptedness to harsh environmental conditions, high market value/high meat production and high milk production. The pastoralists practised sensible criteria for the selection of male breeding animals for all species, capturing aspects of productivity (milk yield, reproduction), adaptedness (good hardiness) and marketability (body size and conformation). Similarly, they practised sensible criteria for culling of female breeding animals, with females removed from the herd primarily for poor performance, but also to meet the livelihood needs of the family. Differences in the selection and culling criteria were noted by species, as well as gender of the pastoralists. On the whole, there was strong alignment between the livestock selection criteria used by the Somali pastoralists, their reasons for keeping livestock and the market requirements. This is not surprising given the intimate and long-standing relationship between Somali pastoralists and their livestock.

This study focused on market participation and producers' knowledge of the indigenous livestock grading and pricing system applied to small ruminant marketing in Somaliland. Data were collected from a random sample of 144 men and women producers in three livelihood zones: Hawd pastoral, West Golis pastoral and Togdheer agro-pastoral zones. Results confirmed the importance of small ruminants as sources of income in producer households. Knowledge about the grading system was generally widespread, and this was important for market participation. Factors that significantly influenced market participation were number of animals kept, gender of sales/decision maker, age of household head and livelihood zone.

Background: Achievement of food security is an important objective in the National Development Plan of Botswana. This study set out to characterise food security situation and food consumption patterns among livestock keepers in Botswana. The study also sought to determine the effect of various factors (including livestock-related issues) on nutrition/food consumption patterns of livestock farmers in Botswana. Data used in this study come from a survey of smallholder livestock producers conducted by the International Livestock Research Institute and its partners in Botswana in 2013. A food consumption score (FCS) is a qualitative measure of food security constructed using data collected at a household level, and to investigate the influence of various factors on food security and consumption patterns, both logit and OLS regression were used. Results:Results show that purchase was the chief source of foodstuffs (including main staples) in these households. About 20% of households claimed that they had suffered lack of food at least once during the preceding 12 months prior to the collection of data used in this analysis. Nearly all of them reported having had to endure going to bed hungry. Application of the World Food Programme (WFP) FCS methodology of food security analysis supported this claim. Based on the FCS, about 9% of households were food insecure. This category constituted 6% that ranked poorly and 3% that were on the borderline according to the WFP's definition of food security. These findings justify continued efforts to ensure realisation of food security among livestock keepers in Botswana. Conclusion:The results from this study justify continued, but well-targeted efforts to ensure realisation of food security among livestock keepers in Botswana. The significant effect that livestock keeping has on food security implies that promotion of the livestock activities, especially in the rural areas, could foster alleviation of malnutrition, especially among the poor.