One Health Approach to Control Brucellosis in Sierra Leone

Brucellosis is a febrile zoonotic disease that presents a severe hazard to humans and domestic animals, which requires a One Health approach to control socioeconomic consequences and public health implications on the people in the country. The majority of the cattle owners are illiterate herds’ men with traditional knowledge of cattle management handed down by their ancestors. Management is free range with no supplementing or balanced diet. Access to veterinary services is almost not available, and local herdsmen treat their animals. Most of these herdsmen do not allow livestock officer visitors to have access to their animals. Processing of meat and milk uses traditional methods, and people consume fresh milk without due regard to sanitary conditions. This behavior has serious public health implications especially when the majority of the beneficiaries live in rural communities. Animals abort, while production decreases due to delayed conception. Local herdsmen confer confidence in people who are knowledgeable about cattle management. Researchers have no data on the disease in the last 50 years. Supportive action from various sectors such as human, animal and environmental health stakeholders backed by social anthropologists using the One Health Platform will provide a conducive atmosphere to engage herdsmen in initiating control measures of the disease

Rabies Virus in Sierra Leone: Challenges and Recommended Solutions for Elimination by 2030

The objective of this write-up is to find possible solution control canine rabies virus in Sierra Leone and other low-income countries in the world. Rabies is a viral disease affecting both humans and animals in Sierra Leone. The country has no policy on dog ownership and management, two veterinarians, limited access to rabies vaccines and human immunoglobin, and a lack of information about the disease in the country despite increasing dog bite cases and death. There is no wildlife specialist to initiate wildlife vaccination. Continuous vaccination increased awareness, trained personnel in veterinary and wildlife, development of policies on responsible dog ownership and by-laws and increase financial support from the government and private sector will help Sierra Leone eliminate rabies in the first half of the twenty-first century

Social pathways for Ebola Virus Disease in rural Sierra Leone, and some implications for containment

The current outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in Upper West Africa is the largest ever recorded. Molecular evidence suggests spread has been almost exclusively through human-to-human contact. Social factors are thus clearly important to understand the epidemic and ways in which it might be stopped, but these factors have so far been little analyzed. The present paper focuses on Sierra Leone, and provides cross sectional data on the least understood part of the epidemic-the largely undocumented spread of Ebola in rural areas. Various forms of social networking in rural communities and their relevance for understanding pathways of transmission are described. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between marriage, funerals and land tenure. Funerals are known to be a high-risk factor for infection. It is suggested that more than a shift in awareness of risks will be needed to change local patterns of behavior, especially in regard to funerals, since these are central to the consolidation of community ties. A concluding discussion relates the information presented to plans for halting the disease. Local consultation and access are seen as major challenges to be addressed

Perspective Chapter: Health Facilities and Services in Rural Sierra Leone – Implication for Longevity and Well Being of Her Citizenry

Sierra Leoneans face multiple barriers to accessing health facilities and services in rural communities leading to morbidity and mortality. The objective of this paper is to identify some of these challenges and proffer possible solutions to mitigate morbidity and mortality in rural communities and prolong the lives of their citizenry. The lack of money, the use of cheaper traditional medicines versus expensive medicines at health centers, lack of confidence in health workers, and transportation access to reach health facilities are barriers to accessing health facilities and services by rural community people. The above barriers outline was obtained through thirty years of interaction, discussion, and observations with people and health workers in rural communities. Possible solutions include the provision of free health care, ambulances to ease transportation, the integration of traditional medicine into the national health system, and the encouragement of rural community people to engage in multiple cropping every year. The above solutions and many others will encourage the citizenry in rural communities to attend health facilities and services in the country’s rural towns and villages

Seroprevalence and predisposing factors of rabies antibodies in unvaccinated dogs in Sierra Leone

Abstract Objective This study determines the seroprevalence and associated factors of rabies in unvaccinated dogs in Sierra Leone. Background Rabies control is poorly coordinated in Sierra Leone which was ranked as the third hungriest country in the world. Due to limited access to rabies vaccines, the need for comprehensive serological data on dogs for control of the disease is expedient. Methods A random multistage technique considering high, medium and low incident areas of rabies cases in dog‐populated communities was adopted. Samples were collected from dogs with owners which were at least 1‐year old. Samples were analysed using a commercial ELISA in accordance to manufacturer's instructions. Results 25.2% of the total 270 samples tested positive for the presence of rabies antibodies. Kenema district had the highest number of positive samples, followed by the Bombali district and Moyamba district the least. Predisposing factors, including sex, the status of castration, the type of settlement, district and the availability of fences at locations where dogs are kept, had significant effects (p<0.05) on the exposure of dogs to rabies. The 25.2% antibody seroprevalence obtained is very low. Conclusions Concerted effort should be made to enhance rabies vaccination through an awareness campaign and provision of vaccine to dog owners. Good waste disposal and management practices to reduce open garbage disposal in communities will go a long way to limit the stray‐dog population and minimize rabies outbreaks especially in third‐world countries where rabies vaccines are not accessible

Effect of Biochar Application Depth on Crop Productivity Under Tropical Rainfed Conditions

Although inherently fertile, tropical soils rapidly degrade soon after cultivation. The period of time for which crops, mulch, compost, and manure provide nutrients and maintain mineral fertilizers in the soil is relatively short. Biochar, on the other hand, has the potential to maintain soil fertility and sequester carbon for hundreds or even thousands of years. This study determined the effect of biochar application depth on the productivity of NERICA-4 upland rice cultivar under tropical rainfed conditions. A fixed biochar&ndash;soil ratio of 1:20 (5% biochar) was applied in three depths&mdash;10 cm (TA), 20 cm (TB), and 30 cm (TC) with a non-biochar treatment (CK) as the control. The study showed that while crop productivity increased, root penetration depth decreased with increasing biochar application depth. Soil moisture was highest under TA (probably due to water logging in sunken-bed plots that formed after treatment) and lowest under TC (due to runoff over the raised-bed plots that formed too). Grain yield for the biochar treatments was 391.01&ndash;570.45 kg/ha (average of 480.21 kg/ha), with the potential to reach 576.47&ndash;780.57 kg/ha (average of 695.73 kg/ha) if contingent field conditions including pest damage and runoff can be prevented. By quantifying the effect of externalities on the field experiment, the study showed that biochar can enhance crop productivity. This was good for sustainable food production and for taking hungry Africa off the donor-driven food ration the nation barely survives on

Social pathways for Ebola virus disease in rural Sierra Leone, and some implications for containment.

The current outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease in Upper West Africa is the largest ever recorded. Molecular evidence suggests spread has been almost exclusively through human-to-human contact. Social factors are thus clearly important to understand the epidemic and ways in which it might be stopped, but these factors have so far been little analyzed. The present paper focuses on Sierra Leone, and provides cross sectional data on the least understood part of the epidemic-the largely undocumented spread of Ebola in rural areas. Various forms of social networking in rural communities and their relevance for understanding pathways of transmission are described. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between marriage, funerals and land tenure. Funerals are known to be a high-risk factor for infection. It is suggested that more than a shift in awareness of risks will be needed to change local patterns of behavior, especially in regard to funerals, since these are central to the consolidation of community ties. A concluding discussion relates the information presented to plans for halting the disease. Local consultation and access are seen as major challenges to be addressed

a-c: Distance to Chiefdom headquarters town.

<p>Source: Figure plots the distance frequencies to the Chiefdom headquarter towns for villages with an Agri-Business Center (Panel A (<a href="http://www.plosntds.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003567#pntd.0003567.s005" target="_blank">S3 Dataset</a>), villages without an Agri-Business center (Panel B, (<a href="http://www.plosntds.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003567#pntd.0003567.s005" target="_blank">S3 Dataset</a>)) and villages around the GRNP (Panel C, Household Survey (<a href="http://www.plosntds.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003567#pntd.0003567.s007" target="_blank">S5 Dataset</a>)).</p

A,B: Trust and seeking help by type of institution.

<p>ABC Household Survey (<a href="http://www.plosntds.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003567#pntd.0003567.s005" target="_blank">S3 Dataset</a>), 2200 respondents in 117. The graph plots mean response and 95% confidence interval upper and lower bound. Panel A asks respondents “How much do you trust [institution]? “, responses are on a five point scale ranging from “Not at all” to “Completely”. For Panel B, respondents are asked “If you were in trouble, would you go to these people for help?”, responses are on a three point scale ranging “No never” to “Definitely”.</p