Data_Sheet_1_“How Are My Age and Cows Related?” Cognitive Interviewing as a Tool to Pretest Survey Questions in Two Limited Resource Settings.PDF

Antimicrobial resistance is a complex topic requiring interdisciplinary solutions embedded in One Health thinking. Currently, many surveys are underway in low- and middle-income countries to study how antimicrobial use in the livestock sector is driving resistance. In a survey, the respondents must understand and answer the questions correctly to produce accurate and valuable results. Pretesting survey questions is therefore important but sometimes not performed due to limited time and resources. Cognitive interviewing is a pretesting method to give insights into the respondent's way of interpreting and mentally processing the survey questions to identify problems and finding ways to improve the questions. It has previously been suggested that cognitive interviews may be difficult to use in some cultural settings. This study aimed to use cognitive interviews in a respondent-adjusted way to study how survey questions related to antimicrobial use are understood and answered by 12 small-scale farmers in Kenya and Uganda. The results show that even a small number of interviews and using interviewers with limited knowledge of cognitive interviewing can identify many problems in survey questions and the survey tool. Cognitive interviews may provide a feasible and affordable way of pretesting questionnaires in situations where time and resources are limited, for example, during a disease outbreak.</p

Additional file 2: of Modelling the within-herd transmission of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae in closed pig herds

Box plot of disease secerity. Box plots describing the severity of a M. hyopneumoniae infection in a batch of 293 pigs, when three protective factors are all present (Vac[P], Acc[P], Suc[P]) and two risk factors are both absent (Con[N], Inf[N]). Values represent results of 1,000 iterations of the stochastic compartment model. (TIF 67 kb

Additional file 1: of Modelling the within-herd transmission of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae in closed pig herds

Line diagram of animals per compartment. Line diagram describing the most likely course of a M. hyopneumoniae infection in a batch of 293 pigs, when three protective factors are all present (Vac[P], Acc[P], Suc[P]) and two risk factors are both absent (Con[N], Inf[N]). Lines represent the average of 1,000 iterations of the stochastic compartment model. (TIF 178 kb

Additional file 3: of Modelling the within-herd transmission of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae in closed pig herds

Diagram showing convergence of the outcome variable. Evaluation of the convergence of the outcome variable (disease severity) for an example scenario after several iterations with randomly selected input parameters for the binomially distributed elements (i.e. probability of transition between compartments). (TIF 300 kb

Sero-prevalence at animal level.

Sero-prevalence at animal level.</p

Sample size.

Sample size.</p

Vaccination scenarios with a statistically insignificant difference (for the gross margin).

Vaccination scenarios with a statistically insignificant difference (for the gross margin).</p

Sero-positivity profiles of co-infections.

0 (blue): single infection; 1 (pink): co-infection with one pathogen; 2 (grey): co-infection with two pathogens. 3 (orange): co-infection with three pathogens.</p

The aggregated sheep marketing sector in the marketing module.

The aggregated sheep marketing sector in the marketing module.</p

Table_1_Supply Chain and Delivery of Antimicrobial Drugs in Smallholder Livestock Production Systems in Uganda.DOCX

This study assessed the veterinary drug supply chain in Uganda, the constraints faced by the actors, and how the challenges influence the use of antimicrobial (AMs) by livestock farmers. We carried out stakeholder consultation workshops, key informant interviews and a knowledge, practices, and awareness survey with actors of the veterinary drug supply chain. We also profiled drugs stored in 23 urban and peri-urban drug shops in Lira and Mukono districts to record the commonly sold drugs. The veterinary drug supply chain is made of several actors including wholesalers, retailers, Animal Health Service Providers (AHSP) and farmers. Nearly ninety per cent of drug retailers and veterinary practitioners did not receive specialized training in veterinary medicine, and most of veterinary practitioners have been in the drug business market for more than 10 years. Antibiotics and anti-helminthics were the most stocked drugs by retailers, with antibiotics ranking highest in terms of contribution to annual financial profits, accounting for 33%. The choice of a drug by veterinary practitioners was mainly informed by past success with efficacy of the drug, and financial capacity of the client (the farmer) to meet the treatment cost. Many veterinary practitioners were not conversant with veterinary drug policies of the country, with Mukono having a higher number (72%) compared to Lira (37%). Veterinary practitioners from Lira district compared to Mukono and those mainly serving small scale farmers relative to large scale smallholders were more knowledgeable about antibiotics and AMR. Several supply chain constraints were identified as potential drivers of misuse of antibiotics that could contribute to AMR. These included low level of education of supply chain actors, particularly drug retailers, poor handling of drugs at purchase and administration practices, low enforcement of policies and regulations, and lack of awareness of stakeholders about policies that regulate drug use. Thus, future interventions to reduce misuse of AM drugs in livestock production systems in Uganda such as capacity building, should also target veterinary input suppliers, and deliberately involve a strong policy advocacy component.</p