Where is the Participation in Participatory Epidemiology? How Engagement with Social Science could lead to Improved Understanding and Control of Peste des Petits Ruminants

Abstract

| Peste des Petits ruminants (PPR) is a potentially lethal, highly contagious viral disease of sheep and goats. Domestic sheep and goats are important species for the livelihoods of poor people in many developing countries. Within societies where PPR is now spreading, poverty is widespread and the disease is expected to have significant negative impacts on livelihoods. In resource-constrained marginalised societies, it is often difficult to collect disease data in conventional ways. Participatory epidemiology (PE) has been suggested as a particularly suitable research method to study epidemiology and social impacts of diseases in these contexts. However, for PE to achieve its full potential, stronger efforts to achieve true participation and to incorporate lessons about participation and power from the social sciences may be required. This review shows that social science engagement in PE to date is virtually non-existent, but that increased efforts to draw lessons from the social sciences and to increase the degree of participation in PE could increase its potential as an important tool in disease impact assessment and control. Particular attention is paid here to the potential role of PE in future research on the epidemiology and control of PPR. P este des Petits ruminants (PPR) is an economically important and highly contagious viral disease of sheep and goats. It is the fourth most important disease of small ruminants world-wide, based on losses of livestock units (World Bank, 2011). Domestic sheep and goats are important species for poor people in many developing countries, where farming and animal husbandry make a critical contribution to the livelihoods of a significant share of households. In particular, the poorest groups in such smallholder farming societies, who have limited possibilities to invest in larger and higher value animals, depend on sheep and goat rearing (Perry et al., 2002). Thus the spread of PPR could have a particularly negative impact on the poorest and, consequently, controlling PPR can be expected to bring increased livelihood security to many of the rural poor.In the kinds of societies where PPR is now spreading, it is often difficult both to collect data and to implement disease control strategies in conventional ways, due to lack of infrastructure and lack of established systems for, and local experience of, collecting reliable quantitative data. Participatory epidemiology (PE) has been suggested as a particularly suitable methodology for both implementing disease control practices

History and current status of peste des petits ruminants virus in Tanzania

“…The importance of engaging the affected groups (i.e. the animal owners) in the goal to eradicate PPR has also been emphasized ( 43 ). Most of the southern African countries are free from PPR, with the current southern border of confirmed presence of PPR being – from west to east – Angola, DRC, and Tanzania ( 18 ).…”

Increasing the Local Relevance of Epidemiological Research: Situated Knowledge of Cattle Disease Among Basongora Pastoralists in Uganda

“…PE in veterinary science has been developed as a tool for collecting epidemiological data in contexts where conventional quantitative data are unavailable. However, recent research has shown that the focus on being accepted by the conventional veterinary research community has led to “participation” in PE, and the resulting relevance of the findings to local people, being rather limited ( 14 ). In this study, we as authors combined our expertise in veterinary medicine and rural development studies, respectively, while remaining equally open to local competence, drawing on participatory methods.…”

Editorial: Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR): Generating Evidence to Support Eradication Efforts

“…As the success of the eradication efforts will greatly depend on farmers' willingness to participate in vaccination and surveillance programmes, as demonstrated during the rinderpest eradication programme ( 8 ), greater consideration must be given to research in social sciences ( 9 ). The achievement of this international programme also requires economic perspectives ( 10 ).…”