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Ijara district in Kenya was one of the hotspots of Rift Valley fever (RVF) during the 2006/2007 outbreak, which led to human and animal deaths causing major economic losses. The main constraint for the control and prevention of RVF is inadequate knowledge of the risk factors for its occurrence and maintenance. This study was aimed at understanding the perceived risk factors and risk pathways of RVF in cattle in Ijara to enable the development of improved community-based disease surveillance, prediction, control and prevention. A cross-sectional study was carried out from September 2012 to June 2013. Thirty-one key informant interviews were conducted with relevant stakeholders to determine the local pastoralists' understanding of risk factors and risk pathways of RVF in cattle in Ijara district. All the key informants perceived the presence of high numbers of mosquitoes and large numbers of cattle to be the most important risk factors contributing to the occurrence of RVF in cattle in Ijara. Key informants classified high rainfall as the most important (12/31) to an important (19/31) risk factor. The main risk pathways were infected mosquitoes that bite cattle whilst grazing and at watering points as well as close contact between domestic animals and wildlife. The likelihood of contamination of the environment as a result of poor handling of carcasses and aborted foetuses during RVF outbreaks was not considered an important pathway. There is therefore a need to conduct regular participatory community awareness sessions on handling of animal carcasses in terms of preparedness, prevention and control of any possible RVF epizootics. Additionally, monitoring of environmental conditions to detect enhanced rainfall and flooding should be prioritised for preparedness.

Background: Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) is caused by Mycobacterium bovis. Developed countries have succeeded to control BTB infections and reduced its transmission to humans through the enforcement of meat inspection laws, test and slaughter/segregation of positive reactors, and milk pasteurisation. This was paralleled by a concomitant decrease in human tuberculosis infections (HTBI) from 5%-20% to 0.5%-1% in the past five decades. In developing countries, an estimated 10-15% of HTBI are attributed to M. bovis, however, weak control measures and under reporting of BTB may grossly underestimate this. Surveillance by the Veterinary Services Directorate (VSD) through meat inspection, voluntary reporting and periodic cattle screening with the objective to early detect and monitor trend for rapid intervention are the mainstay of control. Controlling BTB in cattle results in its reduction in humans; hence, we evaluated the BTB surveillance system in the Greater-Accra Region of Ghana to determine its performance and assessed the system's attributes.Methods & Materials: We interviewed stakeholders, reviewed veterinary monthly reports of all ten districts in the region, laboratory and screening records, and extracted surveillance data from national electronic database for the period 2006-2011 using the CDC Guidelines for Evaluation of Public Health Surveillance Systems.Results: From 2006-2011, 284/244,576 (0.12%) cattle slaughtered were suspected to have BTB; of which 7/284 (2.5%) were submitted and all laboratory-confirmed positive by Ziehl-Neelsen acid-fast stain test; predictive value positive (PVP) being 100%. From the suspected carcasses, there were 91 partial and 8 total condemnations. BTB detected at slaughter rose from 13 in 2006 to 78 in 2010, then dropped to 48 in 2011. Interviews suggest that about 50% of carcasses slip through inspection. Out of 3,367 cattle screened with tuberculin from eight farms, 97 (2.9%), tested positive and were culled. Ninety percent (9/10) of districts consistently submitted reports late to the region whereas 70% (7/10) made no reference to BTB. Regional and district data were manually stored with no electronic backups.Conclusion: The BTB surveillance system is sensitive, useful and monitors trend, however, timeliness, representativeness, completeness of reporting, and data quality need improvement. Non-reporting districts are now reporting following training. http://dx.