Integrated Approach to Facilitate Stakeholder Participation in the Control of Endemic Diseases of Livestock: The Case of Peste Des Petits Ruminants in Mali

Abstract

In Mali, small ruminants (SRs) are an important means for enhanced livelihood through income generation, especially for women and youth. Unfortunately, opportunities for livestock farmers to tap into these resources for economic growth are hindered by high burden of endemic diseases such as peste des petits ruminants (PPR). A key component for the control of PPR is vaccination of SRs. However, low participation of farmers to vaccination was identified by stakeholders of the livestock value chains as a key constraint to successful vaccination programs. This study was implemented in the framework of a project which aimed at improving the domestic ruminant livestock value chains in Mali by upscaling proven interventions in animal health, feeds and feeding and livestock marketing. The objectives of the study were to review the context of livestock vaccination in Mali and evaluate the impact of innovation platforms (IP) as a means for engaging stakeholders in the vaccination process. Desk review, key informant interviews (KII) and net-mapping were used to understand the context of livestock vaccination, while vaccination coverage and sero-monitoring together with group interviews were used to measure the impact of the intervention. IPs were created in 24 communes in three regions: 15 IPs in Sikasso, 4 IPs in Mopti and 5 IPs in Timbuktu. They developed work plans and implemented activities focusing on improving interaction among key vaccine chain delivery stakeholders such as farmers, private veterinarians, vaccine manufacturers, local leaders and public veterinary services; involving them in the planning, implementation and evaluation of vaccination programs and fostering knowledge sharing, communication and capacity building. After 2 years of implementation of IPs, vaccination coverage for SRs increased significantly in target communes. During the first year, seroprevalence rate for PPR increased from 57% (CI95: 54–60%) at baseline to 70% (CI95: 67–73%) post-vaccination in Sikasso region, while in Mopti region, seroprevalence increased from 51% (CI95: 47–55%) at baseline to 57% (CI85: 53–61%) post-vaccination. Stakeholder engagement in the vaccination process through facilitated IPs was successful in fostering participation of farmers to vaccination. However, a sustainable vaccination strategy for Mali would benefit from consolidating the IP model, supported by Government investment to strengthen and adjust the underlying public-private-partnership.

Willingness to Vaccinate (WTV) and Willingness to Pay (WTP) for Vaccination Against Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) in Mali

“…Fifth, regarding farmers' trust of private veterinarians, the FTF-MLTS program took an important step to address this lack of trust through better planning of vaccination campaigns using participatory approaches vaccination delivery through Innovation Platforms (IPs). Preliminary results show that IPs have been able to strengthen trust between farmers and private veterinarians, consequently improving performance of vaccination campaigns (9).…”

“…The objective of this study was to assess farmer perceptions about vaccination of SR livestock, with particular emphasis on their willingness to vaccinate (WTV) and willingness to pay 1 http://www.fao.org/emergencies/resources/documents/resources-detail/en/c/ 282777/ for vaccination (WTP). For the WTP, as already highlighted by Dione et al (9) and Sadio (8), we considered the delivery of the vaccines at the closest area of residency (termed "distance-effect") to facilitate accessibility and improved information on the quality of the vaccine (termed "quality tracker-effect" by introducing a vaccine viability detector 2 ).…”

Exposure to multiple pathogens - serological evidence for Rift Valley fever virus, Coxiella burnetii, Bluetongue virus and Brucella spp. in cattle, sheep and goat in Mali

“…Access of farmers to veterinary services is easier in this region, compared to other regions. Sikasso region is also confronted with high occurrence of African Animal Trypanosomiasis [ 16 ] ( Fig 1 ).…”

“…Indeed, the persistence of diseases, feed shortages and the lack of market opportunities for farmers are among the main constraints hindering the development of the sector [ 1 ]. Animal health challenges are dominated by high burden of infectious and parasitic pathologies [ 2 ]. Major disease control interventions such as vaccination only target key transboundary endemic diseases including peste des petits ruminants (PPR), ovine pasteurellosis or contagious bovine pleuro-pneumonia (CBPP).…”

Effectiveness and profitability of preventive veterinary interventions in controlling infectious diseases of ruminant livestock in sub-Saharan Africa: a scoping review

“…Thus, strategies including awareness creation, improving vaccine supply, packaging and storage in the field have been proposed to increase vaccine adoption in developing countries [134]. Additionally, community engagement is also a valuable tool to addressing particularly demand side barriers linked to mistrust of health systems [133,135]. Also, organizations including the Pan-African Veterinary Vaccine Center (PANVAC) remain crucial to the harmonization of disease control efforts in SSA through the setting of quality standards for animal vaccines [23].…”