Knowledge of Bovine Tuberculosis, Cattle Husbandry and Dairy Practices amongst Pastoralists and Small-Scale Dairy Farmers in Cameroon

Background Control of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) and zoonotic tuberculosis (zTB) has relied upon surveillance and slaughter of infected cattle, milk pasteurisation and public health education. In Cameroon, like many other sub-Saharan African countries, there is limited understanding of current cattle husbandry or milk processing practices or livestock keepers awareness of bTB. This paper describes husbandry and milk processing practices within different Cameroonian cattle keeping communities and bTB awareness in comparison to other infectious diseases. Study design A population based cross-sectional sample of herdsmen and a questionnaire were used to gather data from pastoralists and dairy farmers in the North West Region and Vina Division of Cameroon. Results Pastoralists were predominately male Fulanis who had kept cattle for over a decade. Dairy farmers were non-Fulani and nearly half were female. Pastoralists went on transhumance with their cattle and came into contact with other herds and potential wildlife reservoirs of bTB. Dairy farmers housed their cattle and had little contact with other herds or wildlife. Pastoralists were aware of bTB and other infectious diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and fasciolosis. These pastoralists were also able to identify clinical signs of these diseases. A similar proportion of dairy farmers were aware of bTB but fewer were aware of foot-and-mouth and fasciolosis. In general, dairy farmers were unable to identify any clinical signs for any of these diseases. Importantly most pastoralists and dairy farmers were unaware that bTB could be transmitted to people by consuming milk. Conclusions Current cattle husbandry practices make the control of bTB in cattle challenging especially in mobile pastoralist herds. Routine test and slaughter control in dairy herds would be tractable but would have profound impact on dairy farmer livelihoods. Prevention of transmission in milk offers the best approach for human risk mitigation in Cameroon but requires strategies that improved risk awareness amongst producers and consumers.


Introduction to the Project:
Instructions for administering this questionnaire 1) Ask the questions as written. Remember the questionnaire is a measurement tool in the same way as a set of scales and consistency is critical. If prompting is necessary keep to a minimum and always use the same statement for each question. Please ask all questions highlighted in grey unless not applicable; then refer to highlighted instructions to direct you to the next question to ask.
2) Do not rush the interviewee, do not give any indication of your opinion, i.e. maintain a neutral expression, but show your interest.
3) Find somewhere private to conduct the interview away from any officials or neighbours who might affect the herdsman responses. 4) Remember ALL ANSWERS ARE CONFIDENTIAL AS IS THE NAME OF THE INTERVIEWEE and if another herdsman asks if his friend is included or about any of his responses you politely reply that you are unable to answer because we have promised everyone that the information is confidential. You need not say anything more. 5) In the event that a herdsman does not want to participate it is important at least to get the background details to allow us to classify the non--responders. 6) Before starting the questionnaire read the following statement. "Thank you for agreeing to participate in this study of bovine tuberculosis, Liver Fluke/fasciolosis and other diseases in Cameroon. The project's purpose is to gain further understanding about various infectious diseases in Cameroonian cattle. The information you give will be used to understand why infections spread and help improve control of these diseases. Hopefully benefiting livelihoods by improving cattle health and production. You have been selected by a random process from a list of names of people who had their herd vaccinated in the last 2 years. The choice of your herd in no way suggests there is anything wrong with your cows or other reasons. It is a choice just like the game of lottery. The names were put on the computer that then chose the names. We now want to ask you some questions about how you manage this particular herd you have here today. This will help us assess various aspects of disease transmission and help in the interpretation of the results from the blood samples, and so give better advice to all herdsmen. All answers will be kept confidential and your answers will not be given to any other group. Your name will not be used in any report and only summary statistics will be quoted. If you happy with this we would like to begin the questionnaire." If verbal consent is granted then continue with the questionnaire.

Y N UNK
(1.15) Other

__________________ N UNK 2. Infectious Diseases:
This first section is about your perception of diseases you may have encountered and possibly have in your herd.  -

Grazing and Housing:
The next sets of questions are about how you manage grazing and the nutrition of these animals presented. This section does NOT regard transhumance as this will be discussed in a later section. 5.01 Have the cattle presented been allowed to graze in open pasture the in previous 12 months? (Circle one)

Y N UNK
If no or unknown, go to question 5.09 5.02 In the area regularly grazed by these cattle presented, is it (Circle one):

Natural Improved UNK
If unknown, go to question 5.09 5.03 Are any parts of the pasture grazed by these cattle presented, in the past 12 months, flooded or swampy? (Circle one) Y N UNK 5.04 How many other herds graze the same pasture, as these cattle, on a daily basis? (Circle one) 0 herds