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

Para‐veterinary systems have arisen in numerous developing countries to address the low capacity of national veterinary services in meeting livestock health demands of mainly smallholder farmers. In Cambodia, the village animal health worker (VAHW) system was established in the early 1990s, involving short training programmes to equip VAHWs to provide basic animal health services for smallholder farmers, particularly the vaccination of cattle for haemorrhagic septicaemia (HS). However, there are increasing expectations that VAHWs provide village level disease surveillance information to the national veterinary services, despite their low‐level disease diagnostic skills. To identify opportunities to improve the disease reporting system in Cambodia, a closed‐ended cross‐sectional study of VAHWs (n = 80) from two provinces was conducted in 2015, examining their contact frequency with district and provincial animal health authorities. Ordinal logistic regression was used to determine factors associated with increased frequency of VAHW contact with the district animal health authorities responsible for national disease reporting. Positive associations between income generated from VAHW activities (p = .01) and the frequency of visiting farmers (p < .0001), with more frequent contacts with district animal health authorities, were identified. High levels of inappropriate use of antibiotics, with almost 90% of VAHW reporting they use antibiotics to treat FMD‐affected animals, were reported. Although further research to increase the rates of reporting at the smallholder farmer and VAHW levels is required, increased emphasis on complying with the World Organisation for Animal Health's competency guidelines for veterinary paraprofessionals may be required if they are expected to contribute to national animal disease surveillance systems.

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

MacPhillamy

Young

Siek

et al. 2019

Section: Fmd Smallholder Impact: How Can We Find Out More?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A best practice invention involving improved husbandry and disease control (including FMD vaccination and biosecurity) more than doubled cattle daily weight gains (Young et al, 2014b) and income at least doubled for 53% of participants (Young et al, 2014a) Annual incidence during the 2010 outbreak was estimated to be about 13% for cattle and buffalo at US$247 per animal affected accounting for 10.6% loss of farm-gate value of large ruminants. National vaccination control had an estimated benefit-cost ratio of 1.40 (95% CI: 0.96-2.20) (Young et al, 2016)…”

Section: Impact Estimationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This framework considers what is known about these different categories of impact information and their likely significance. Various data sources have to be utilized and some parameters may have to be modelled using ad hoc approaches to overcome limitations in available data (Young et al, 2016). For endemic settings there is a need to consider the current impact of FMD, followed by an assessment of possible control measures, their effectiveness and cost.…”

Section: Framework Of Fmd Impactmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Foot-and-Mouth Disease Impact on Smallholders - What Do We Know, What Don't We Know and How Can We Find Out More?

Knight-Jones

McLaws²,

Rushton

2016

SummaryFoot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD) endemic regions contain three‐quarters of the world's FMD susceptible livestock and most of the world's poor livestock keepers. Yet FMD impact on smallholders in these regions is poorly understood. Diseases of low mortality can exert a large impact if incidence is high. Modelling and field studies commonly find high FMD incidence in endemic countries. Sero‐surveys typically find a third of young cattle are sero‐positive, however, the proportion of sero‐positive animals that developed disease, and resulting impact, are unknown. The few smallholder FMD impact studies that have been performed assessed different aspects of impact, using different approaches. They find that FMD impact can be high (>10% of annual household income). However, impact is highly variable, being a function of FMD incidence and dependency on activities affected by FMD. FMD restricts investment in productive but less FMD‐resilient farming methods, however, other barriers to efficient production may exist, reducing the benefits of FMD control. Applying control measures is costly and can have wide‐reaching negative impacts; veterinary‐cordon‐fences may damage wildlife populations, and livestock movement restrictions and trade bans damage farmer profits and the wider economy. When control measures are ineffective, farmers, society and wildlife may experience the burden of control without reducing disease burden. Foot‐and‐mouth disease control has benefitted smallholders in South America and elsewhere. Success takes decades of regional cooperation with effective veterinary services and widespread farmer participation. However, both the likelihood of success and the full cost of control measures must be considered. Controlling FMD in smallholder systems is challenging, particularly when movement restrictions are hard to enforce. In parts of Africa this is compounded by endemically infected wildlife and limited vaccine performance. This paper reviews FMD impact on smallholders in endemic countries. Significant evidence gaps exist and guidance on the design of FMD impact studies is provided.

“…Serotypes O and A are prevalent every year, while serotype Asia 1 is detected only sporadically (de Carvalho Ferreira et al., ; OIE, ; Tum, Robertson, Edwards, Abila, & Morzaria, ). Foot‐and‐mouth disease poses substantial economic burdens on small‐ and large‐scale livestock producers (Nampanya et al., , ; Shankar, Morzaria, Fiorucci, & Hak, ; Young et al., ). Regional control of FMD is exacerbated by the frequent movements of susceptible livestock across international boundaries, the majority of which are poorly regulated and represent substantial risks of transboundary spread of the disease (Di Nardo, Knowles, & Paton, ; Nampanya et al., ; Poolkhet et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Emergence of an exotic strain of serotype O foot-and-mouth disease virus O/ME-SA/Ind-2001d in South-East Asia in 2015

Qiu

Abila

Rodtian³

et al. 2017

Summary The O/Middle East‐South Asia (ME‐SA)/Ind‐2001 lineage of foot‐and‐mouth disease virus (FMDV) is endemic in the Indian subcontinent and has been reported in the Middle East and North Africa, but it had not been detected in South‐East Asia (SEA) before 2015. This study reports the recent incursions of this viral lineage into SEA, which caused outbreaks in Vientiane Capital of Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR) in April 2015, in Dak Nong, Dak Lak and Ninh Thuan Provinces of Vietnam from May to October 2015, and in Rakhine State of Myanmar in October 2015. Disease investigations were conducted during the outbreaks and followed up after laboratory results confirmed the involvement of FMDV O/ME‐SA/Ind‐2001 sublineage d (O/ME‐SA/Ind‐2001d). Affected host species included cattle, buffalo and pig, and all the outbreaks resolved within 2 months. Animals with clinical signs were separated, and affected premises were disinfected. However, strict movement restrictions were not enforced, and emergency vaccinations were only implemented in Vientiane Capital of Lao PDR and Dak Nong and Ninh Thuan Provinces of Vietnam. Clinical samples were collected from each outbreak and examined by nucleotide sequencing of the FMDV viral protein 1 coding region. Sequence analysis revealed that the O/ME‐SA/Ind‐2001d isolates from Lao PDR and Vietnam were closely related to each other and similar to viruses previously circulating in India in 2013. Viruses collected from Myanmar were divergent from viruses of the same sublineage recovered from Lao PDR and Vietnam but were closely related to viruses present in Bangladesh in 2015. These findings imply that at least two independent introductions of O/ME‐SA/Ind‐2001d into SEA have occurred. Our study highlights the transboundary nature of foot‐and‐mouth disease (FMD) and reinforces the importance of improved FMD surveillance and promotion of safer cross‐border trade in SEA to control the risk of introduction and spread of exotic FMDV strains.