Status of parasitism in donkeys of project and control areas in central region of Ethiopia: A comparative study

The study was undertaken with the aim of comparing the status of parasitism in donkeys in the Donkey Health and welfare Project intervention (Bereh, Ada and Boset) and Control (Yekaduda, Gerado and Meki) areas of, Central Ethiopia, in 2005. Parasites are prime problem of donkeys among other problems including wound and other infectious and noninfectious diseases. The methods applied included coproscopy, packed cell volume determination, live weight estimation and body condition scoring. A total of 648 donkeys were sampled from both control (324) and project (324) study areas. Qualitative faecal worm egg analysis revealed the prevalence of different helminthes in project and control areas to be respectively, Strongyles spp. (22.8% & 49.7%) , Oxyruis equi (4.6% & 6.5%), Anaplocephala spp. (2.2% &5.6%), Fasciola spp. (6.5% & 7.7%) and Gastrodiscus aegypticus (1.9% & 6.2%). The mean prevalence in the project and control areas was 22.9% and 29.0%, respectively. Quantitative faecal egg analysis revealed that the mean epg in the project and control areas to be 433.6 and 777.2 eggs per gram of faeces (epg), respectively. There was a significant difference (

Changes in Land Cover and Soil Conditions for the Yabelo District of the Borana Plateau, 1973-2003

It has been proposed that the Borana Plateau has markedly changed in terms of land cover and land use in recent decades, but no hard data have been available to critically assess this claim. In addition, systematic analysis of soil properties has been limited. Research was designed to measure changes in land cover/land use over 30 years in the 400-km2 Yabelo District of southern Ethiopia using three satellite images taken at an average interval of 15 years. Samples were also collected to assess variation in the physical and chemical properties of dominant soils. Results indicated that Yabelo District has indeed changed greatly in terms of land use and land cover; dramatic declines were noted in the extent of grasslands, while croplands increased five-fold, and bushed-grasslands and bushlands both increased substantially. Bushland soils had less organic matter and were more compacted than grassland soils. These results all support the idea that the productive capacity of this landscape for grazing has been markedly reduced in 2003 as compared to that for 1973. Rehabilitating the grazing system would be difficult and require a comprehensive, inter-disciplinary approach. Central to such an approach would be devising a well-informed land use plan

Session presentation

Aflatoxins are a group of toxic metabolites produced by Aspergillus molds that contaminate a variety of food and animal feeds. Exposure to aflatoxins causes serious illness in humans, including liver cancer and stunting in children. When cows ingest aflatoxin-contaminated feed, they secrete aflatoxin M1 (AFM1) in their milk. Aflatoxin M1 has been detected in high concentration throughout sub-Saharan Africa in cow’s milk and in human breast milk, putting infants at high risk. In Ethiopia, a currently ongoing study has revealed high levels of contamination of dairy feeds with aflatoxins in the Greater Addis milk shed. In this study, we have collected raw milk samples from dairy farmers and milk collectors in the Greater Addis milk shed and quantified the levels of AFM1 using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Using a cross-sectional study design, a total of 100 raw milk samples were collected from dairy farms in Addis Ababa and its surrounding areas (27 from Addis Ababa, 23 from Debre Zeit, 9 from Sebeta, 31 from Sendafa and 10 from Sululta). All the milk samples were contaminated with AFM1 and most (92%) of the samples had aflatoxin levels exceeding 50 ppt, which is the FAO/WHO and EU permissible level of AFM1 in milk. The highest AFM1 content was 4977 ppt and the lowest was 28 ppt. In addition, ten raw milk samples were collected from milk collectors located in Addis Ababa (1), Debre Zeit (3) and Sululta (6). All of the samples from milk collectors were contaminated with AFM1 exceeding 50 ppt. The high levels of AFM1 in milk in the Greater Addis milk shed is alarming, because it is one of the largest milk sheds in the country, and most residents of Addis Ababa get their milk from these sources. Children in particular are encouraged to drink milk as much as possible. Considering that young children are weaned on to cow's milk and they are not immune-competent at this early age, consumption of milk contaminated with AFM1 may further suppress their immunity and also contribute to stunting. In addition, it has been estimated that aflatoxins may play a causative role in up to 30% of the cases of liver cancer globally each year. Therefore, the high level of aflatoxin contamination in the peri-urban dairy value chain of Addis Ababa requires urgent response to reduce human and animal exposure to these toxins. Our research group is currently testing intervention strategies to address the problem of aflatoxins in dairy feed in Ethiopia

Public Engagement to Prioritize the Pastoral Research Agenda at the Pastoral and Agro-pastoral Research Center of OARI in Ethiopia

The Oromia Agricultural Research Institute (OARI) has a mandate to conduct agricultural and livestock research throughout the Regional State of Oromia in Ethiopia. OARI has recently opened a facility near Yabello town on the Borana Plateau called the Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Research Center. A meeting was held in August 2006 at Yabello that involved representatives from pastoral communities, the private sector, government, and non-governmental organizations. The aim was to engage stakeholders in a process of problem prioritization and set the stage to create new partnerships to better address pressing problems. The final priorities included: addressing a general decline in forage availability; improving water-harvesting methods; reducing effects of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD); improving pastoral livestock marketing; and intervening to help mitigate problems associated with increased competition for land between maize cultivation and dry-season grazing. Researchers, pastoral community members, development actors, and policy makers all play varied roles in dealing with each of the five priority issues. The implementation of a new prescribed fire program to restore bush-encroached rangelands in southern Ethiopia, and hence increase forage supplies, is given as an example of integrated action to address problems. The results of this prioritization meeting were encouraging—the key is the focus on process and new partnerships. OARI plans to use the same approach in planning activities at other research centers in different agro-ecological zones

Diabetic and hypertensive disorders following early pregnancy loss: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Spontaneous and induced abortions are common outcomes of pregnancy. There is inconsistent evidence of an association between early pregnancy loss and subsequent diabetic and hypertensive disorders in women. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated evidence on the risk of the subsequent development of pregnancy and non-pregnancy related diabetic and hypertensive disorders in women who experienced an early pregnancy loss. Methods: Systematic searches were conducted in seven electronic databases (CINAHL Plus, Ovid/EMBASE, Ovid/MEDLINE, ProQuest, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science) from inception to 22nd December 2023. Studies were included if they reported an exposure of spontaneous abortion (SAB), induced abortion (IA) or recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL) with an outcome of gestational diabetes mellitus, pre-eclampsia, gestational hypertension, and non-pregnancy related diabetic and hypertensive disorders. Risk of bias was assessed using Risk of Bias Instrument for Non-Randomized Studies of Exposures (ROBINS-E). Random effects meta-analysis was used to pool odds of developing diabetic and hypertensive disorders following an early pregnancy loss. This study is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42022327689). Findings: Of 20,176 records, 60 unique articles were identified for full-text review and 52 met the inclusion criteria, representing a total population of 4,132,895 women from 22 countries. Thirty-five studies were suitable for meta-analysis, resulting in a pooled odds ratio (OR) of 1.44 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.23–1.68) for gestational diabetes mellitus following a prior SAB and a pooled OR of 1.06 (95% CI 0.90–1.26) for pre-eclampsia following a prior SAB. RPL increased the odds of developing pre-eclampsia (OR 1.37 95% CI 1.05–1.79). There was no association between IA and diabetic and hypertensive disorders. Interpretation: A prior SAB was associated with increased odds of gestational diabetes mellitus, but not pre-eclampsia. However, women who experienced RPL had an increased risk of subsequent pre-eclampsia. Future research is required to establish evidence for an association between early pregnancy loss with non-pregnancy related diabetic and hypertensive disorders. Funding: National Health and Medical Research Council

Early mortality among Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal women who had a preterm birth in Western Australia: A population-based cohort study

Background: Having a preterm ( \u3c 37 weeks\u27 gestation) birth may increase a woman\u27s risk of early mortality. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter Aboriginal) women have higher preterm birth and mortality rates compared with other Australian women. Objectives: We investigated whether a history of having a preterm birth was associated with early mortality in women and whether these associations differed by Aboriginal status. Methods: This retrospective cohort study used population-based perinatal records of women who had a singleton birth between 1980 and 2015 in Western Australia linked to Death Registry data until June 2018. The primary and secondary outcomes were all-cause and cause-specific mortality respectively. After stratification by Aboriginal status, rate differences were calculated, and Cox proportional hazard regression was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) for all-cause and cause-specific mortality. Results: There were 20,244 Aboriginal mothers (1349 deaths) and 457,357 non-Aboriginal mothers (7646 deaths) with 8.6 million person-years of follow-up. The all-cause mortality rates for Aboriginal mothers who had preterm births and term births were 529.5 and 344.0 (rate difference 185.5, 95 % CI 135.5, 238.5) per 100,000 person-years respectively. Among non-Aboriginal mothers, the corresponding figures were 125.5 and 88.6 (rate difference 37.0, 95 % CI 29.4, 44.9) per 100,000 person-years. The HR for all-cause mortality for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal mothers associated with preterm birth were 1.48 (95 % CI 1.32, 1.66) and 1.35 (95 % CI 1.26, 1.44), respectively, compared with term birth. Compared with mothers who had term births, mothers of preterm births had higher relative risks of mortality from diabetes, cardiovascular, digestive and external causes. Conclusions: Both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women who had a preterm birth had a moderately increased risk of mortality up to 38 years after the birth, reinforcing the importance of primary prevention and ongoing screening