The use of participatory approaches to evaluate the socio-economic factors impairing the efficacy of animal health surveillance systems

Abstract

The need to set up efficient and sustainable surveillance networks is a major concern which must be continually placed at the heart of the overall issue of development. In developing countries, the political priority to reduce poverty means that it is vital to include social aspects in public decision making on health management in general. This focus on social aspects can be considered all the more important regarding surveillance as it is deeply embedded in agents’ everyday life. The flow of information about animal health involves different non-monetary costs, ensuing from stigmatization or from social pressure to withhold or disclose information. Understanding, measuring and alleviating these social costs of information is required to ensure the effectiveness and viability of surveillance. The present study considers the case of highly pathogenic avian influenza surveillance in Vietnam. It aims at establishing a protocol allowing for understanding and quantifying social costs incurred by surveillance agents at the community level. In this prospect, tools and concepts from anthropology, participative epidemiology and experimental economics were combined. More particularly, social network analysis, participatory observation, companion modeling and stated preference surveys were applied for the thorough examination of constraints and costs of health information flows. The opportunity for the scaling-up of such methodologies and for the inclusion of the so-elicited quantitative values in socio-economic evaluation of surveillance systems are discussed