Where backyard poultry raisers seek care for sick poultry: implications for avian influenza prevention in Bangladesh

Abstract

BackgroundIn Bangladesh, backyard poultry raisers lack awareness of avian influenza and infrequently follow government recommendations for its prevention. Identifying where poultry raisers seek care for their ill poultry might help the government better plan how to disseminate avian influenza prevention and control recommendations.MethodsIn order to identify where backyard poultry raisers seek care for their ill poultry, we conducted in-depth and informal interviews: 70 with backyard poultry raisers and six with local poultry healthcare providers in two villages, and five with government veterinary professionals at the sub-district and union levels in two districts during June–August 2009.ResultsMost (86% [60/70]) raisers sought care for their backyard poultry locally, 14% used home remedies only and none sought care from government veterinary professionals. The local poultry care providers provided advice and medications (n = 6). Four local care providers had shops in the village market where raisers sought healthcare for their poultry and the remaining two visited rural households to provide poultry healthcare services. Five of the six local care providers did not have formal training in veterinary medicine. Local care providers either did not know about avian influenza or considered avian influenza to be a disease common among commercial but not backyard poultry. The government professionals had degrees in veterinary medicine and experience with avian influenza and its prevention. They had their offices at the sub-district or union level and lacked staffing to reach the backyard raisers at the village level.ConclusionsThe local poultry care providers provided front line healthcare to backyard poultry in villages and were a potential source of information for the rural raisers. Integration of these local poultry care providers in the government’s avian influenza control programs is a potentially useful approach to increase poultry raisers’ and local poultry care providers’ awareness about avian influenza.

A Decade of Avian Influenza in Bangladesh: Where Are We Now?

“…A similar dependency on the local vendors was reported among the backyard poultry raisers in a previous study [74], indicating that this group is a key player for both sectors. These vendors, without any formal training, also prescribed antibiotics for poultry indiscriminately [57,74], contributing to the global concern for antibiotic resistance both for human and animal health [75].…”

“…The study also showed that farmers’ practices and perception of biosecurity, transmission, and prevention of AIV were inconsistent with standard definitions, but were consistent with the recommendations and perceptions of the local vendors of chicks, feed, and medicines, indicating that these vendors heavily influenced farmers’ decisions [57]. A similar dependency on the local vendors was reported among the backyard poultry raisers in a previous study [74], indicating that this group is a key player for both sectors. These vendors, without any formal training, also prescribed antibiotics for poultry indiscriminately [57,74], contributing to the global concern for antibiotic resistance both for human and animal health [75].…”

“…To account for the socioeconomic realities of small-scale commercial farmers, biosecurity recommendations could be tailored [40]. Farmers’ dependency on the local vendors needs to be taken into account while developing any intervention for these small farmers [57,74]. Despite being an important contributor to this problem, the duck population has typically been ignored in terms of biosecurity interventions.…”

An Evaluation of Veterinary Production and Services in Bangladesh

“…There are two staff; one is a VFA (Veterinary Field Associate), who performs immunization programs and gives essential preliminary and initial treatment to the animals, and the other is an FAAI (Field Assistants in Artificial Insemination), who just performs artificial impregnation. Yet, without VFA, FAAI additionally performs the duties of a VFA (Rimi et al, 2018). Animal healthcare training could be the best strategy to instruct ranchers for clean administration practice and pre-emptive activities for turning away illnesses.…”

Controlling Avian Influenza Virus in Bangladesh: Challenges and Recommendations

“…Ubiquitous water bodies, rice paddies, and bushland fostering contact with wild bird populations [27,40,43,[61][62][63][64][65][66][67] Commercial poultry Small and medium enterprises…”