Electronic data collection to enhance disease surveillance at the slaughterhouse in a smallholder production system

Globally, meat inspection provides data for animal health surveillance. However, paper-based recording of data is often not reported through to higher authorities in sufficient detail. We trialled the use of an electronic meat inspection form in Kenyan slaughterhouses, in lieu of the currently used paper-based format. Meat inspectors in two ruminant slaughterhouses completed and submitted an electronic report for each animal slaughtered at their facility. The reports, which captured information on the animal demographics and any eventual condemnations, were stored in a central database and available in real-time. A stakeholder meeting was held towards the end of the study. Over the 2.75 year study period, 16,386 reports were submitted; a downward linear trend in the monthly submissions was noted. There was a week effect, whereby more reports were submitted on the market day. Of the slaughtered animals, 23% had at least a partial condemnation. The most frequently condemned organs were the liver, lungs and intestines; the primary reasons for condemnations were parasitic conditions. Lack of feedback and difficulty capturing animal origin information were the primary challenges highlighted. The study demonstrated that electronic data capture is feasible in such challenging environments, thereby improving the timeliness and resolution of the data collected

Who let the dogs out? Exploring the spatial ecology of free‐roaming domestic dogs in western Kenya

The spatial ecology of free‐roaming dogs determines their role in the transmission of zoonoses. This study describes the geographic range of and identifies sites frequently visited by free‐roaming domestic dogs in western Kenya. Eight sites in Busia county, western Kenya, were selected. At each site, ten dog‐keeping households were recruited, a questionnaire was administered, and a GPS logger was fixed around the neck of one dog in each household. Loggers were programmed to capture the dog's position every minute, for five consecutive days. Individual summaries of GPS recordings were produced, and the daily distance traveled was calculated. 50% and 95% utilization distribution isopleths were produced, and the area within these isopleths was extracted to estimate the size of the core and extended Home Ranges (HRs), respectively. Linear regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with the movement parameters. The centroid points of the 10, 50, and 90% isopleths were reproduced, and the corresponding sites identified on the ground. Seventy‐three dogs were included in the final analyses. The median daily distance traveled was 13.5km, while the median core and extended HRs were 0.4 and 9.3 ha, respectively. Older dogs had a larger extended HR and traveled more daily, while the effect of sex on dog movement depended on their neutering status. Dogs spent most of their time at their household; other frequently visited sites included other household compounds, fields, and rubbish dumps. One of the centroids corresponded to a field located across the international Kenya–Uganda border, emphasizing the fluidity across the border in this ecosystem. Multiple dogs visited the same location, highlighting the heterogeneous contact networks between dogs, and between dogs and people. The field data presented are of value both in understanding domestic dog ecology and resource utilization, and in contextualizing infectious and parasitic disease transmission models

The Genome of Caenorhabditis bovis

The free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a key laboratory model for metazoan biology. C. elegans has also become a model for parasitic nematodes despite being only distantly related to most parasitic species. All of the ∼65 Caenorhabditis species currently in culture are free-living, with most having been isolated from decaying plant or fungal matter. Caenorhabditis bovis is a particularly unusual species that has been isolated several times from the inflamed ears of Zebu cattle in Eastern Africa, where it is associated with the disease bovine parasitic otitis. C. bovis is therefore of particular interest to researchers interested in the evolution of nematode parasitism. However, as C. bovis is not in laboratory culture, it remains little studied. Here, by sampling livestock markets and slaughterhouses in Western Kenya, we successfully reisolated C. bovis from the ear of adult female Zebu. We sequenced the genome of C. bovis using the Oxford Nanopore MinION platform in a nearby field laboratory and used the data to generate a chromosome-scale draft genome sequence. We exploited this draft genome sequence to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of C. bovis to other Caenorhabditis species and reveal the changes in genome size and content that have occurred during its evolution. We also identified expansions in several gene families that have been implicated in parasitism in other nematode species. The high-quality draft genome and our analyses thereof represent a significant advancement in our understanding of this unusual Caenorhabditis species

Looking For Leverage: Strategic Resources, Contentious Bargaining, and US-African Security Cooperation

According to much of the international relations literature on security alliances weaker states are rarely in a position to drive hard bargains with their more powerful allies. Yet African states, for example, do not simply endure what they must to be of service to powerful friends. They often attempt to use security alliances to gain leverage over their stronger partners and extract concessions from them. When and why do they succeed? This dissertation focuses on intelligence liaisons, military basing agreements, and coordinated military interventions as strategic resources that Ethiopia, Zaire (now D.R.C.), and Uganda have mobilized in intra-alliance bargaining with the US. The central puzzle of this work coheres around two questions: How do these states deploy these resources, shape US perceptions of the value of these resources, and threaten US access to these resources when bargaining with Washington? And how effective have these states been in using these resources to generate bargaining leverage and extract concessions from the US? This work hypothesizes that by shrewdly deploying these strategic resources when negotiating with the US, these states have at times amassed remarkably high levels of bargaining leverage. This leverage has led to sharp increases in US economic and security aid, attenuated US criticisms of the domestic policies of these allies, and increased US willingness to side with these security partners in their regional disputes. Simply put, coordinated military interventions, intelligence sharing programs, and military basing agreements serve as critical bargaining chips in the hands of African leaders as they attempt to capitalize on security alliances with the US. On the ground, however, beyond the halls of international diplomacy, these bargaining chips have often imperiled the institutions of African states and the security of their citizens

Clinical outreach refresher trainings in crisis settings (S-CORT): clinical management of sexual violence survivors and manual vacuum aspiration in Burkina Faso, Nepal, and South Sudan

© 2017 The Inter-agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Crises. Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. During the early humanitarian response to a crisis, there is limited time to train health providers in the life-saving clinical services of the Minimum Initial Services Package (MISP) for Reproductive Health. The Training Partnership Initiative of the Inter-agency Working Group on Reproductive Health in Crises developed the S-CORT model (Sexual and reproductive health Clinical Outreach Refresher Training) for service providers operating in acute humanitarian settings and needing to rapidly refresh their knowledge and skills. Through qualitative research, this study aimed to determine the operational enablers and barriers related to the implementation of two S-CORT modules: clinical management of sexual violence survivors (CMoSVS) and manual vacuum aspiration (MVA). Across three participating countries (Burkina Faso, Nepal, and South Sudan), 135 health staff attended the CMoSVS refresher training and 94 the MVA refresher training. Results from the focus group discussions and in-depth interviews suggest that the S-CORT approach is respectful of human rights and quality of care principles. Furthermore, it is potentially effective in enhancing the knowledge and skills of existing trained service providers, strengthening their capacity, and changing their attitudes towards abortion-related services, for example. The S-CORT is a promising model for implementation in the acute phase of an emergency upon stabilisation of the security situation. The model can also be integrated into broader post-crisis capacity development efforts. Future operational research should emphasise not only an assessment of new modules’ contents, but whether implementing this refresher training model in remote outreach settings is feasible, effective, and efficient

Antimicrobial Resistance in Slaughterhouses, Kenya

Slaughterhouses are hotspots for the transmission of antimicrobial-resistant pathogens. We conducted stakeholder discussions on antimicrobial-resistant pathogens within the slaughterhouse setting. Butchers were described as powerful stakeholders; challenges included limited funding and staff, inadequate infrastructure, and limited laboratory capacity. Slaughterhouse workers understood that their work increased their risk for exposure

Hospital domestics: Care work in a Kenyan hospital

In Kenya, as elsewhere in Africa, it is common for caregivers to live alongside patients who are admitted to hospital. Ethnographic material from the wards of a district hospital in western Kenya shows that in this context proper care for patients required the mobilization of the extended family and the care and attention of hospital staff. Caring practices created biomedical and domestic ward spaces, with patients the objects of two divergent models of care, which the author calls “familial” and “biomedical,” aligned to these spaces. Caregivers and hospital staff emphasized the boundary between these models of care to comment on and (re)produce concepts of responsibility and obligation to others and to legitimate restrictions that they placed on the care they gave. The author argues that it is helpful to think about this hospital as an institutional space produced through a composite of mobile spatial practices, including both biomedical and domestic practice