Awareness and mitigation measures on highly pathogenic avian influenza in pastoral poultry flocks of North‐central Nigeria: any challenging gap?

Abstract

Village poultry closely interact with wild birds and other livestock in extensively managed poultry flocks, a practice common in pastoral communities of Nigeria. This practice provides sustained dissemination of avian viruses, such as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus. The objectives of this study were to assess their knowledge/awareness, risks identification and biosecurity measures on HPAI H5N1 in pastoral poultry flocks. A questionnaire‐based cross‐sectional survey was conducted in systematically selected pastoral households of North‐central Nigeria between May 2015 and June 2016. A total of 422 pastoralists participated in the study. Mean age of the respondents was 54.7 ± 11.4 SD years and 36.0% of them were in age group 50–59 years. The majority (81.3%) of respondents were of the Fulani tribe. Also, 64.9% of the respondents had no formal education and only 6.9% had tertiary education. About 30.8% of the nomadic and 81.0% of sedentary pastoralists significantly mentioned avian influenza to be a zoonotic disease. Very few nomadic (10.9%) and sedentary (26.1%) pastoralists significantly reported restriction of birds’ movement to nearby water bodies as biosecurity measure. Only 7.6% of the nomadic and 16.1% of sedentary pastoralists practiced keeping of birds according to species. Sedentary pastoralists were more likely to have significant knowledge about HPAI H5N1 than the nomadic (OR: 1.76; 94% CI: 1.19–2.61). Female pastoralists were more likely to practice significant biosecurity measures against HPAI H5N1 than the males (OR: 1.99; 95% CI: 1.28–3.09). The majority of pastoralists neither possessed adequate knowledge about avian influenza nor applied adequate biosecurity measures against it, which are the most challenging gaps. Education of pastoralists on HPAI virus infection, specifically on information about clinical signs of avian influenza in birds, transmission dynamics among different species of birds, flyways of migrating wild birds and adequate mitigation measures are recommended.

Awareness of poultry farmers on biosafety practices against infectious diseases in Kano State, Nigeria

“…They receive little information from veterinary personnel (3.0%) as well as community health officers (1.8%). This result corroborates the position of FAO ( 2017) and Alhaji & Suleiman (2017) that the major source of information of farmers on infectious poultry diseases in Nigeria is Mass-Media. Ehien, Orifah, & Oloruntoba, (2017) also agreed that the main source of awareness for farmers on agricultural information in Ogun State, Nigeria is mass-media.…”

“…This is in agreement with the submission of Olumade et al, (2020) that the knowledge of poultry farmers on biosafety practices against infectious diseases is generally low. This result is contrary to the position of Alhaji and Suleiman (2017) that most of the poultry farmers closely interact with wild birds and other livestock which invariably implies that they did not comply with the standard biosafety practices of keeping infectious pathogens away from their farms.…”

“…Poultry production is one of the easiest ways to increase the availability of protein in food because eggs contain essential nutrients such as amino acids, minerals and vitamins that can augment protein deficiency in the body. Production of meats and eggs occupies a prime position for improving animal protein consumption of both rural and urban households in Nigeria (Eze, Chah, Uddin & Anugwa, 2017;Alhaji & Suleiman, 2017). According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 2021) reports, Nigeria has low animal protein intake with an average of 6g per head per day while the world average is 34g per head per day.…”

Disentangling the role of Africa in the global spread of H5 highly pathogenic avian influenza

“…Moreover, HPAI H5-infected wild species have been reported in a variety of countries before or simultaneously with poultry outbreaks, and direct or indirect contacts with wild birds have been frequently identified as the most probable cause of virus introduction into poultry 12,13,15,26,27,29,35 . In some African countries, illegal poaching of wild birds, which are kept in rural communities and then sold at markets, is not uncommon and may represent a possible bridge between wild and domestic birds 59 . The role of wild birds in the African continent is also supported by the virological and serological evidences of circulation of the H5 subtype in the wild population 51,60 , in particular during the most recent epidemic wave when HPAI H5N8 was widely detected in wild bird species in several countries such as Egypt 18 , Cameroon 12 , Uganda 13 and South Africa 15,17 .…”

Asessing Biosecurity Management Practice Along Layer Chicken Chain in Bogor And Sukabumi

“…Those three biosecurity variables were evaluated using checklist questionnaire based on Martindah et al (2014) and veterinary control number. This checklist questionnaire method was also mentioned and used in FAO (2008), Tenzin et al (2017), and Alhaji (2017). Scoring was used to measure the implementation of biosecurity to disease challenge.…”