The Socioeconomic Impacts of Clinically Diagnosed Haemorrhagic Septicaemia on Smallholder Large Ruminant Farmers in Cambodia

Abstract

Haemorrhagic septicaemia (HS) is an acute fatal infectious disease of mainly cattle and buffalo and outbreaks occur commonly in Cambodia. Disease outbreak reports were examined to select five villages from three provinces for a retrospective investigation of HS epidemiology and socioeconomic impact on smallholders, with an aim of identifying potential benefits from improving disease prevention through biosecurity and vaccination. The Village Animal Health Worker (VAHW) or Chief in each village and 66 affected smallholders were surveyed. At the village level, 24% of all households were affected with an estimated mean village herd morbidity of 10.1% and mortality of 28.8%. Affected farmers reported HS disease morbidity and mortality at 42.7% and 63.6% respectively. Buffalo had a higher morbidity (OR = 2.3; P = 0.003) and mortality (OR = 6.9; P < 0.001) compared with cattle, and unvaccinated large ruminants a higher morbidity (OR = 2.9; P = 0.001). The financial impact varied depending on whether the animal survived, provision of treatment, draught replacement and lost secondary income. The mean cost per affected household was USD 952.50 based on ownership of five large ruminants. The impact per affected animal was USD 375.00, reducing the pre-disease value by 66.1%. A partial budget revealed an overwhelming incentive for farmers to practice biannual vaccination, with a net benefit of USD 951.58 per household based on an annual disease incidence rate of 1. Sensitivity analysis showed that a net benefit of USD 32.42 remained based on an outbreak every 20 years. This study indicates HS can cause a catastrophic financial shock to smallholders and remains a critical constraint to improving large ruminant productivity and profitability. Addressing HS disease control requires a focus on improving smallholder farmer knowledge of biosecurity and vaccination and should be priority to stakeholders interested in addressing regional food insecurity and poverty reduction.

Improving Village Animal Health Worker participation in national disease surveillance systems: A case study from Cambodia

“…A key component of community consultation is farmer discussions to confirm key animal health problems (Jones et al, 1998;Leyland & Catley, 2002). HS has traditionally been a major disease of concern due to high mortality rates and socioeconomic impacts, whereas the low mortality rates associated with FMD have made it a lower priority for farmers (Kawasaki, Young, Suon, Bush, & Windsor, 2015;Young, Suon, Andrews, Henry, & Windsor, 2013). However, studies indicate that smallholder farmers are becoming more aware of the production costs associated with an FMD outbreak (Young et al, 2013).…”

Benefit-Cost Analysis of Foot and Mouth Disease Control in Large Ruminants in Cambodia

“…FMD was the disease most likely to be reported by VAHW's at ~83%, with HS close behind at ~81% (Stratton, ). However, underreporting of FMD and HS cases is known to occur in Cambodia (Shankar et al., ; Vergne et al., ; Kawasaki et al., ; Young et al., ) and is also likely throughout the GMS. A two‐source capture–recapture analysis for estimating the true number of villages experiencing clinical FMD in 2009 was conducted in Svay Rieng province in Cambodia (Vergne et al., ), evaluating the reporting rate to provincial authorities at 0.05 (95% CI 0.03–0.13).…”

Financial impact of an outbreak of clinically diagnosed blackleg – a case study from Lao PDR

“…) and HS in Cambodia (Kawasaki et al . ) confirm that routine vaccination for priority large ruminant diseases is a cost‐effective disease management strategy. A previous study on the cost of FMD in Laos indicated that each dollar invested potentially achieved USD 5 in benefits (Nampanya et al .…”

“…Nevertheless, despite lack of veterinary services and lab diagnostics, valuable financial impact data can be obtained from studies of clinically diagnosed disorders in developing countries, with HS in Cambodia as an example (Kawasaki et al . ).…”

“…; Kawasaki et al . ). With increasing transboundary movements of ruminants in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) and to China, to meet expanding regional demand for meat, animal health authorities in Laos and surrounding countries are increasingly encouraging the use of routine vaccination against these priority diseases.…”