Participatory appraisal of foot and mouth disease in the Afar pastoral area, northeast Ethiopia: implications for understanding disease ecology and control strategy

Abstract

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is the most economically important disease of livestock that still affects extensive areas of the world. This study described the use of participatory appraisal tools such as pair-wise ranking, matrix scoring and proportional piling to assess the perception of livestock keepers about the clinical signs and epidemiological features of cattle diseases with particular emphasis on FMD. Strong agreement among informant groups (W = 0.710; P = 0.000) in pair wise ranking indicated that the diseases were common problem to all the selected districts. Matrix scoring of disease indicators/signs also showed strong agreement (W = 0.504 to 0.955; P = 0.000) that implied significant current veterinary knowledge by Afar pastoralists. Age specific means of annual incidence rates estimated by proportional piling were significantly (P < 0.05) different but negatively correlated for FMD, CBPP and pasteurellosis. However, correlation was not significant for anthrax, blackleg and other important diseases. Age specific means of annual mortality was significantly (P < 0.05) but negatively correlated for FMD, CBPP, pasteurellosis and other important cattle diseases with correlation coefficients of -0.72, -0.81, -0.8 and -0.55, respectively. However, correlation (r = 0.12) was not significant for anthrax and not correlated at all for blackleg. This study indicated that pastoralists have detailed knowledge about their livestock health problems, and hence the combined use of participatory appraisal and conventional methods is essential for an ultimate disease control strategy.

Clinical Manifestations of Foot-and-Mouth Disease During the 2010/2011 Epidemic in the Republic of Korea

“…Farm workers can clearly distinguish the clinical features of FMD. Most signs reported by the farm workers coincided with those described in veterinary literature (Shiferaw et al., 2010). Herd‐level sensitivity was as high as 97.6% (McLaws et al., 2007), and the sensitivity of farm workers’ observations was higher than that of active surveillance.…”

The Concept And Methods Of Community Participation In Animal And Human Disease Surveillance

“…Semi-structured interviews Used in most PE studies and in combination with visua ranking and scoring methods; also used as a stand-al [33,40,41,43] Timeline History and timing of disease events [42,43,54] Visualizationmethods Participatory mapping Livestock movements with respect to the location of g and water points [44]. special exposure to disease vec Seasonal calendars Seasonal variation in disease incidence [40,37,38].…”

Integrative modelling for One Health: pattern, process and participation

“…Local epidemiological insights can help ‘where there is no data’ [65] to generate important insights into disease prevalence, spread and impacts. Data collected through participatory techniques—for example matrix scoring—proved helpful in reshaping responses by veterinarians and policymakers, for example, in investigations of a chronic wasting condition of cattle in South Sudan [66], as well as of trypanosomiasis in Kenya [67], foot and mouth disease in Ethiopia [68] and contagious caprine pleuropneumonia in Tanzania [69]. Participatory approaches can be used in disease response planning, monitoring and evaluation, as well as in disease searching and identification and modelling.…”