Impact of brucellosis on Socio-Economic Well-being of Cattle Farmers inthe Western and Southern Provinces of Zambia
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Date
2017
Authors
Mwinyi, Omari M.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Zambia
Abstract
Brucellosis is a highly contagious zoonotic and devastating disease that affects
households‟ potential to improve their well-being through trade in livestock and
livestock commodities. Despite the disease being endemic in Zambia, there is inadequate
information, on its socio-economic impact on the well-being of households rearing
cattle. Therefore, a cross-sectional study was conducted in the Western and Southern
provinces of Zambia to determine the impact of brucellosis on socio-economic wellbeing
of cattle farmers at household level. The specific objectives of the study were to
determine losses and costs associated with brucellosis in cattle; determine socioeconomic
well-being levels at the household; evaluate the linkages between brucellosis
and socio-economic well-being status; assess the extent to which the current health
policies are implemented to support One Health approaches in brucellosis control;
develop a framework for collaboration between veterinary and medical experts in
controlling brucellosis and other zoonoses. Structured questionnaires, focus group
discussions and key informant interviews were used to collect both quantitative and
qualitative data in this research. Furthermore, both descriptive and inferential statistics
were used to analyse quantitative data using IBM-SPSS 22® while qualitative data was
analysed using Nvivo® and content analysis. All costs and monetary losses were
estimated in Zambian Kwacha (ZMW) and the equivalent international currency (USD);
the exchange rate was 1 USD to 11.45 ZMW. The overall total loss attributed to
brucellosis-related calf mortality, in the studied households was 1,536,000 ZMW
equivalent to USD 134,148.47; 77,700 ZMW equivalent to USD 6,786.02 was due to
milk losses, 18,000 ZMW equivalent to USD 1,572.05 was due to mortality among
seropositive cattle and 52,960 ZMW equivalent to USD 4,626.37 was due to veterinary
interventions. Lack of money to pay for livestock health services was significantly
associated with poor household socio-economic well-being (p = 0.003), while the level
of education of household heads was associated with the highest positive brucellosis
impact (p = 0.005) on household socio-economic well-being. Further, the results also
show that there was a big difference in the levels of socio-economic well-being in the
study areas with, 59.0% of households being classified as poor and only 2.0% of
households were classified as rich. Consequently, the null hypothesis was rejected in
favour of the alternative hypothesis, which stated that socio-economic well-being levels
differ significantly where there is less impact of brucellosis in cattle and where such
impact is higher(F = 11.268, p = <0.001). It was also found that more than two-thirds of
the respondents from the Ministry of Health (MoH) and Ministry of Fisheries and
Livestock (MFL) (73.1%) agreed that there was no policy support which directly
facilitated One Health in terms of collaboration. The findings show that the overall
attitude towards One Health collaboration among medical and veterinary personnel was
favourable. On the basis of these findings, it can be concluded that reduced cost of
disease prevention and losses due to brucellosis can improve socio-economic well-being
of cattle farmers in the Western and Southern provinces of Zambia. Accordingly, in
order to reduce costs and losses attributed to brucellosis, livestock services and
surveillance systems for brucellosis should be prioritised and a One Health collaboration
framework should be adopted by the Government in order to protect farmers from losses
attributed to brucellosis and other zoonoses.
Description
PhD in Public Health (One Health)
Keywords
Brucellosis in cattle--Zambia