The multiple burdens of zoonoses in low- and middle-income countries: why zoonoses are worse for the poor

Poor people have greater exposure to zoonoses through livestock keeping; living in agricultural communities; greater exposure to peri-domestic and wild animals; and less access to clean water and sanitation. Although their consumption of animal source products is low, the quality of these products is poor. In addition to human health burdens, zoonoses reduce livestock productivity and are important barriers to trade in livestock products, as well as causing more difficulty to quantify harms such as spillover to wildlife populations. These additional impacts also contribute to poverty in developing countries. However, the relation between poverty and zoonoses is complicated. Assessing the impacts of zoonoses helps prioritize management. Among the most important zoonoses in developing countries are leptospirosis, cysticercosis, brucellosis, tuberculosis, and rabies and zoonoses causing foodborne disease. The COVID-19 pandemic also showed how lack of resilience leads to greater vulnerability of poor people to emerging zoonoses of high economic impact. Investment and innovation are urgently needed to tackle zoonoses in developing countries where they currently impose massive burdens on human, animal, and ecosystem health

The White Revolution in India: The end or a new beginning?

The milk revolution, popularly known as White Revolution, started in India in 1970 with a governmentsponsored programme - Operation Flood. This brought significant improvement to smallholder dairy systems by promoting cross-breeding, improving access to feed, veterinary services, markets, milk processing and preservation infrastructure. By 2013, India was the world’s largest milk producing country with total production of 132 megatonnes up from 17 in 1951. However, the cooperative system, the main vehicle for dairy development, was not successful everywhere especially, in regions where dairying had less potential to scale-up, leaving traditional milk production, with 80% of the market share, behind. Although cross-breeding became popular, average milk productivity per animal is still far below the global average and the traditional sector lacks awareness, capacity, incentives and resources. Simultaneously, urban and peri-urban dairying is developing rapidly, but accompanied by health and environmental experiments, Overall, we need systematic, location specific, holistic approaches to address the constraints. We present initial findings on promising approaches from research in Assam, Bihar and urban and peri-urban dairying. These suggest a ‘third way’ of dairy development driven by demand and value chain evolution that can complement the approaches implemented by co-operatives and more recently by large private sector investment

Etude des politiques relatives aux stratégies de gestion de la chimiorésistance dans le cadre de la lutte contre la trypanosomose en Afrique de l'Ouest: cas du Mali

Discussion sur l’etude des politiques relatives aux stratégies de gestion de la chimiorésistance dans le cadre de la lutte contre la trypanosomose en Afrique de l’Ouest, Mali. Le projet a pour objectif d’assurer l’efficacité des trypanocides comme une composante effective des strategies intégrées et améliorées de contrôle de Ia trypanosomose animale dans Ia region ouest-africaine. Pour atteindre cet objectif, des organisations nationales de recherche et de developpement, des institutions internationales et régionales de recherche, et des universités allemandes travaillent en partenariat afin de développer aux niveaux local et regional des strategies de reduction de risque de Ia chimiorésistance. L’accent est mis principalement sur l‘information et des supports techniques aux paysans, aux prestataires de service en sante animale, aux vétérinaires professionnels et aux décideurs politiques. Les informations et supports techniques ont pour but de promouvoir Ia lutte intégrée et l’utilisation rationnelle des trypanocides afin de réduire les risques a long terme de Ia chimiorésistance sans compromettre Ia capacité des éleveurs a pouvoir protéger leurs animaux contre les effets néfastes de la trypanosomose animale. Le projet est réalisé au Burkina Faso, au Mali et en Guinée par l’lnstitut International de Recherche sur l’Elevage (lLRl) en collaboration avec d’autres organisations. Des approaches de solutions sont alors proposees de maniere a apporter une solution durable au phenomene de la chimioresistance

Editorial: Food safety in low- and middle-income countries

This is the first special edition on food safety in informal markets in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). Despite their important public health and socio-economic impacts, foodborne diseases have only recently gained the attention of development institutes and initiatives (Grace, 2023). The is the result of growing appreciation of the enormous burden of foodborne disease in LMICs: the health burden is comparable to that of malaria, HIV/AIDs or tuberculosis and the economic cost is more than 100 billion USD a year (Havelaar et al., 2015; Jaffee et al., 2019). Most of the burden is caused by microbial and parasitic infections and most of these are acquired from fresh foods purchased in mass domestic markets in LMICs (Grace, 2015)

Challenges in intensifying India smallholder dairy production: Health risks and productivity gaps

India has over 300 million buffaloes and cows, and is the country that produces the most milk. Even though the commercial sector is growing, a large part of the milk is still traded through informal value chains. Many households have only few milking animals, and production is hampered by poor health and lack of adequate feed and water. Multiple zoonotic diseases are circulating, and even though milk commonly is boiled, the trade with raw milk products and lacking hygienic measures pose a risk to human health. Informal value chains are unregulated and uncontrolled, and this increases the associated risks. In three projects, the International Livestock Research Institute is studying the white revolution of India. 1. Impact of an intervention on hygienic milk production on productivity, Assam. Farmers and milk traders had a low awareness about health hazards in milk, which improved after training, but the main impact noted by the farmers was healthier animals and better productivity. 2. Upstarting project on peri-urban dairy and risks of zoonotic disease and antibiotic misuse. 3. The dairy value chain in Bihar, one of the poorest states in India. Identifying the major limitations to efficient milk production, and the best bet interventions

Assessment of health problems of sheep and goats based on ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection at Addis Ababa Abattoir, Ethiopia

Introduction: Ethiopia has a rapidly growing small ruminant sector, which faces low productivity due to husbandry practices and poor health condition of the animals. A study was conducted in Ethiopia’s largest municipal abattoir with the objective to assess the health problems of sheep and goats presented for slaughter using standard ante-mortem and post-mortem methodology. Methods: A cross-sectional study using systematic random sampling was conducted on 384 sheep and 384 goats from January to July 2014. Results: Soiled skin (69.1%), poor body condition (24.3%), and nostril discharge (19.5%) were common among both species at ante-mortem examination. Gross lesions were frequent in livers (39.7%) and lungs (37.2%), while pneumonia (18.1%) and adhesions (13.8%) were frequent in the lungs of sheep and goats, indicating stress-related illness. Parasitic lesions, especially fasciolosis (19.3%) and hydatid cysts (8.1%) were significantly more common in sheep livers (p 0.05). The direct financial loss from lesions in both species was 1,077,015 ETB or 53,851 USD per year, most of which was estimated to occur from carcass bruising. Discussion: The findings indicate that reducing parasite burden and preventing carcass bruising through improved handling could significantly increase the profitability of the small ruminant meat sector in Ethiopia.

Food safety in informal public markets in Kenya: perceptions of stakeholders in the food chain

Introduction: Informal markets play a crucial role in providing fresh and nutritious foods for people in low and middle-income countries. However, the safety of food sold in these markets remains a major concern, contributing to a high burden of foodborne illnesses. Methods: This study was designed to analyze stakeholder perceptions of food safety in selected informal public markets in Kenya. Eight focus group discussions and 15 key informant interviews were conducted. In addition, two workshops were held to validate the findings. Results and discussion: We found that consumers and vendors confounded food quality, especially freshness, with safety, and paid more attention to appearance and physical qualities than food safety. Information (such as branding and expiry dates) and heuristic cues (such as the flow of buyers and the presence of flies) were used to assess food safety. Meat was perceived as the food most likely to cause disease. Chemical hazards in fresh produce and aflatoxins in maize were mentioned as priority hazards by both vendors and consumers. Stakeholders more knowledgeable about food safety considered microbial hazards as a top priority. Although diarrheal diseases were reported to be prevalent in the communities, these were often thought to be the result of agri-chemical residues in fresh produce or the consumption of high-fat foods, and not commonly linked to bacteria in food. Gaps identified during the interviews included poor infrastructure, inadequate food safety knowledge, insufficient or prohibitive policies, insufficient political will, and poor food safety-related practices. There were few mentions of lack of motivation or incentives for behavior change, or insufficient consumer demand for food safety. To fill the gaps, several opportunities were discussed, including contextualizing policies and regulations, investing in infrastructure, capacity building, and training, and promoting involvement and collaboration among various stakeholders. Conclusion: This study has highlighted gaps and misperceptions that need to be addressed through proper knowledge and awareness to effectively combat foodborne disease challenges. Behavioral change approaches to improve food safety are recommended