Award details

Establishment of a multi-sectoral strategy for the control of brucellosis in the main peri-urban dairy production zones of West and Central Africa

Reference	BB/L019078/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Javier Guitian
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Professor Ayayi Justin AYIH-AKAKPO, Professor sylvie diop, Dr Meritxell Donadeu, Dr Baptiste Dungu, Professor Punam Mangtani, Mr John McGiven, Dr Patrick Nguipdop Djomo, Professor Jonathan Rushton, Dr ADRIAN WHATMORE
Institution	Royal Veterinary College
Department	Clinical Sciences and Services
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	1,769,537
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	30/03/2015
End date	31/03/2021
Duration	72 months

Abstract

As one of the most prevalent zoonoses, brucellosis is an important constraint on the livelihoods of poor people acting both directly on human health causing chronic disability and indirectly via decreased livestock productivity. The heaviest burden is currently on vulnerable populations in Sub-Saharan Africa where emergent livestock systems (per-urban dairy farms) as increasingly required to supply milk to the rapidly growing urban populations. Transmission to humans is mostly by the consumption of contaminated dairy products and contact with infected animals. A range of diagnostic tools and vaccines are used in developed settings and have successfully controled brucellosis in animals and hence humans in different parts of the world. Their use however in LMIC animal health programmes are hampered by several technical, social and economic factors g. quality and appropriateness of different vaccines for different settings, livestock keepers perceptions towards the disease, competing demands lack of incentives for its control, unrecognised human burden from the disease. This project will be on peri-urban farm systems in collaboration with the Interstate School of Veterinary Science and Medicine of Dakar (EISMV) a regional educational hub in 15 West and Central African countries. A multidisciplinary research and development programme linking appropriately to industry is proposed to provide biological, social and institutional answers to the effective control of the disease by vaccination. Field studies will measure the burden of brucellosis in livestock, productivity and human health peri-urban areas identify routes by which people become infected, assess farmers' perceptions and attitudes toward the disease, assess vaccines for effectiveness in livestock, and explore key stakeholder and institutional relationships to identify how to effectively deliver use control measures for Brucella. Training and capacity building will be a central part of the work.

Summary

Brucellosis is the world's most widespread zoonosis, imposing a substantial burden on the livelihoods of poor people as a result of human disease and reduced livestock productivity. However, brucellosis is rarely a priority for health systems and for this reason the WHO classifies brucellosis as a "neglected endemic zoonosis". The main routes by which people can be infected are consumption of contaminated dairy products and direct contact with infected animals. Therefore, the control of human brucellosis depends on its control in animals, mainly ruminants, while its detrimental effects include both animal and human disease. Although a range of tools (diagnostics, vaccines) are available and have been used, sometimes successfully, to control brucellosis in different parts of the world the disease remains present at high levels in others. It is likely that failure to control the disease is due to a combination of factors, some of them technical (e.g. quality and appropriateness of different vaccines for different settings), others socioeconomic (livestock keepers perceptions towards the disease and incentives for its control) or institutional (priority given by veterinary services to the disease, lack of interaction between animal health and public health services). In this project we target one of the livestock systems in which Brucellosis is likely to pose the heaviest burden on vulnerable populations in Sub-Saharan Africa: dairy farms supplying milk to rapidly growing urban populations in West and Central Africa, and we will do it by integrating a range of disciplines so that we consider the different biological, social and institutional dimensions of the disease that are relevant for its control. We will focus on the first phase of control of the disease: the reduction of its prevalence by means of vaccination, since total eradication requires conditions that are not currently met in the target area. The so-called peri-urban dairy farms are an important source of wealth in poor settings and a source of protein in increasingly urbanised African populations. Furthermore, there is evidence that this region has the highest prevalence of ruminant brucellosis in Sub-Saharan Africa. We will carry out a series of field studies to measure the burden of brucellosis in livestock productivity and human health in the main areas for peri-urban dairy production in the 15 target countries, to identify routes by which people become infected, to quantify the economic consequences of the disease for farmers and to understand farmers' perceptions and attitudes toward the disease. In parallel we will carry out a series of training activities and we will work with local institutions to identify barriers for effective and sustainable control and to overcome those. The results will be used to design and carry out 2-year control programs based on vaccination in a small number of settings. The effectiveness of these control programs will be carefully monitored and the results widely shared within and outside the region. Central to this project is the Interstate School of Veterinary Science and Medicine of Dakar (EISMV) a regional educational hub that involves 15 West and Central African countries. EISMV academics will work in partnership with UK-based researchers from two leading veterinary and medical educational institutions: Royal Veterinary College and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and with the international reference laboratory for brucellosis at Animal Health Veterinary Laboratories Agency. The Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed), an organization which works globally to facilitate access of poor livestock keepers to affordable livestock vaccines, medicines and diagnostics will also be an essential part of the consortium contributing to the translation of our research findings into tangible benefits for vulnerable populations and livestock keepers in poor countries.

Impact Summary

The main beneficiaries from this research will be: 1. Dairy farmers in the main peri-urban dairy production zones of the 15 West & Central African countries targeted by the project. All of them will benefit from more effective and sustainable ways of reducing the prevalence of brucellosis in their animals, including improved access to vaccines, improved local diagnostic capacity and improved awareness of veterinary and public health services of the burden of disease and of livestock keeper's priorities. These benefits will gradually build along the 4.5 years duration of the project. Furthermore, we expect the subset of farmers from areas selected for implementation of 5 control programs as part of the project to directly benefit from a reduction in the prevalence of infection towards the end of the project (years 4-5). Peri-urban dairy farmers from the target countries but located in areas not targeted by the 5 control programs, could benefit from the expansion of programs to their areas after the conclusion of the project. In summary, peri-urban dairy farmers will benefit from enhanced and more effective public and private services in relation to brucellosis control and from higher productivity as a result of lower prevalence of an infection that compromises reproductive efficiency and milk production of their cattle. Eventually, keepers of livestock of all ruminant species could benefit if our project succeeds at instigating national control programs for brucellosis in their countries. 2. The local population exposed to direct contact with dairy cattle in the above systems (livestock keepers, farm workers and their families) will benefit from a decreased risk of infection as prevalence in cattle is reduced. Brucellosis is associated with a considerable burden to the local population through subacute disease and chronic disability and its control in ruminants is likely to reduce direct transmission to humans. 3. Similarly to the previous group, the much largerpopulation of consumers of milk and dairy products from the above livestock systems will benefit from a lower risk of exposure to Bucella spp via consumption of contaminated products. Other beneficiaries will include: Governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations involved in animal health, livestock production and public health, which, at the end of the project, will be in a better position to fulfil their mandates with regard to this important disease as a result of the empirical evidence generated by the field studies, the capacity building activities and the institutional work. Private actors across the vaccine chain (manufacturers, retailers, vaccinators), veterinary and public health services and diagnostic laboratories will benefit from capacity building activities associated to the project. Private actors across the emerging local dairy production chains in West & Central Africa will benefit from increased consumer confidence in the safety of their products. The Interstate School of Veterinary Science and Medicine of Dakar, which is a major regional hub for veterinary education that actively engages 15 countries, will greatly benefit from acting as a key partner in this project through the establishment of functional links with leading educational institutions (LSHTM & RVC). Similarly, diagnostic laboratories in the 15 target countries will establish links with the OIE international reference centre for brucellosis at AHVLA. We are targeting countries and a production system with the highest prevalence of brucellosis in Sub-Saharan Africa and therefore with maximum potential impact from enhanced disease control. However, our project aims at enabling the implementation of a new generation of sustainable prevalence reduction programs for brucellosis that could be applied in other resource-scarce endemic settings beyond the target area and we will devote the last months of the project to maximize dissemination and impact.

Committee	Research Committee A (Animal disease, health and welfare)
Research Topics	Animal Health, Immunology, Microbial Food Safety, Microbiology
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Zoonoses and Emerging Livestock Systems (ZELS) [2013-2015]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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