Browsing by Author "Simuunza, Martin C"

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Policy concerns, opportunities, challenges, and attitude towards one health practice in Zambia
(Journal of Health, Medicine and Nursing, 2015) Mwinyi, Mwinyi Omary; Muma, John Bwalya; Kayunze, Kim Abel; Simuunza, Martin C
One Health in terms of collaboration, particularly between human and animal health sectors to prevent and control zoonoses has been low while the sectors have a lot of things in common. Such common things include aspects of disease causative agents (viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc.) and those of disease occurrence mediator conditions (social, cultural, economic or climatic). Therefore, the research from which this paper is based was done with the objectives to: (a) assess the extent to which human and animal health policies facilitate one health in terms of collaboration; (b) rank opportunities for and challenges to collaboration among medical, and veterinary officers according to the views and experiences of the respondents in the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture; and (c) determine the attitude of the respondents towards One Health approaches in terms of collaboration in dealing with zoonoses. A cross-sectional research design was used in this study whereby data were collected at a single point in time without repetition. Purposive sampling method was used to make sure that the respondents were only officials who usually participated in policy formulation in the two Ministries. It was found that almost three quarters (73.1%) of the respondents from both ministries agreed that there was no policy which directly facilitated One Health in terms of collaboration. It was also found that 83.6% of the respondents pointed out that human and animal health policy making process was a top-down process. Furthermore, it was found that the main opportunities that could enhance collaboration were sufficient money in budgeting; advocacy for control of neglected zoonotic diseases in human and animal health; and one health policy formulation (71.3%, 68.2% and 65.5% respectively). The overall attitude towards collaboration among respondents was favourable; they scored an average of 62.2 out of 100.0 points on a Likert scale. It is concluded that if opportunities enhancing collaboration were strengthened and challenges to collaboration were overcome, human health and animal health experts could collaborate more in reduction of disease burden in both humans and livestock.
Prevalence and risk factors associated with theileria parva Infection in cattle in three regions of Tanzania
(Springer Science+Business Media, 2017) Kerario, Isack I; Simuunza, Martin C; Chenyambuga, Sebastian W; Koski, Marja; Hwang, Seong-Gu; Muleya, Walter
Ticks and tickborne diseases (TBDs) are serious constraints to cattle production in Tanzania and other tropical and subtropical countries. Among the TBDs, East Coast fever (ECF) is the most important as it causes significant economic losses to the cattle industry in Tanzania. However, control of ECF in Tanzania has continued to be a challenge due to inad- equate epidemiological information. The main objective of this study was to determine the epidemiological situation of Theileria parva infections in cattle kept under pastoral and agro-pastoral farming systems in Mara, Singida, and Mbeya regions of Tanzania. Blood samples were collected from 648 cattle in the three regions. Genomic DNA was extracted and amplified in a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using T. parva-specific primers targeting the 104-kD antigen (P104) gene. In addition, information was collected on the possible risk factors of T. parva infection (animal age, region, animal sex, tick burden, tick control method, and frequency of acaricide application). The prevalence of T. parva across the three regions was 14.2%. There was variation in prevalence among the three regions with Mara (21.8%) having a signifi- cantly higher (p = 0.001) prevalence than the other regions. Moreover, Mbeya exhibited relatively lower prevalence (7.4%) compared to the other regions. Factors found to be significantly associated with an animal being PCR positive for T. parva were region (p = 0.001) and tick burden (p = 0.003). Other factors were not found to be significant predictors of being PCR positive for T. parva. The present study showed high variation in tick burden and T. parva prev- alence across the regions. Therefore, different strategic plan- ning and cost-effective control measures for ticks and T. parva infection should be implemented region by region in order to reduce losses caused by ticks and ECF in the study area.
Socio-economic impact of brucellosis on livestock farmers in Southern and Western provinces, Zambia
(International Journal of Technical Research and Applications, 2016) Mwinyi, Mwinyi Omary; Kayunze, Kim Abel; Sitali, Doreen C; Simuunza, Martin C; Muma, John Bwalya
Brucellosis is a highly contagious zoonotic and devastating disease that affects households’ potential to improve their well-being through trade in livestock and livestock commodities. Despite the disease being endemic in Zambia, there is inadequate information, on its socio-economic impact on the well-being of households rearing livestock. Therefore, a cross- sectional study was conducted in Western and Southern provinces of Zambia to determine the impact of brucellosis on socio-economic well-being of livestock farmers at households. The specific objectives of the study were to determine losses and costs associated with brucellosis in livestock; determine socio- economic wellbeing levels at the household; evaluate the linkages between brucellosis and socio-economic wellbeing status; assess the extent to which the current health policies address One Health practice and the attitude towards One Health practices among policy makers. Structured questionnaires, focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with key informants were used to collect both quantitative and qualitative data in this research. All monetary losses were estimated in both domestic currency; the Zambian Kwacha (ZMW) and the equivalent international currency (USD); the exchange rate was 1 USD to 11.45 ZMW Zambian Kwacha (ZMW). The overall total losses attributed to brucellosis-related calf mortality, in the studied households was 1,535,800 ZM W (USD 134,131); 77,700 ZMW (USD 6,786.02) was due to milk losses and 13,240 ZMW (USD 1156.33) due to vaccination costs. Lack of money to pay for livestock health services was significantly associated with poor household socio-economic well-being (p = 0.003), while level of education of the household head was associated with the highest positive brucellosis impact (p = 0.005) on socio-economic well- being. Further, the alternative hypothesis that socio-economic wellbeing levels differ significantly where there is less impact of brucellosis in livestock and where such impact is higher, was confirmed (F = 11.268, p = <0.001). Consequently the null hypothesis was rejected. On the basis of these findings, it can be concluded that reduced cost of disease prevention and losses due to brucellosis can improve socio-economic well-being of livestock farmers in Western and Southern provinces of Zambia. Accordingly, in order to reduce costs and losses attributed to brucellosis, livestock services and surveillance systems for brucellosis should be prioritised and One Health collaboration framework should be adopted.