(1) The document discusses a study on the importance of livestock diseases in the highlands of Ethiopia from the perspectives of participatory epidemiology and gender. (2) The study found that anthrax, FMD, blackleg, bovine pasteurellosis, and lumpy skin disease were perceived as the most important livestock diseases by farmers. (3) Both women and men farmers had similar perceptions and priorities regarding livestock diseases. Participatory methods helped understand disease priorities from the farmers' viewpoints.

1. Importance of livestock diseases in the
highlands of Ethiopia: Participatory
epidemiology and gender perspectives
Solomon Gizaw, Hiwot Desta, Biruk Alemu, Azage Tegegne and Barbara Wieland
International Livestock Research Institute
Key messages
(1) Anthrax, FMD, blackleg, bovine Pasteurellosis and
lumpy skin disease are the most important livestock
diseases in the highlands of Ethiopia
(2) Women and men farmers have similar perceptions
and disease priorities
(3) Participatory epidemiology helped to understand
disease priorities as perceived by smallholders
Methods
Sampling
• Study sites: 4 regional states in Ethiopia
(Amhara, Oromia, SNNPR and Tigray),
in total 37 Kebeles/villages in 17 districts
• One woman and one men Focus Group
Discussion held in each kebele, each with
six to eight farmers
Table 1. Sampling structure for FGD (HL: highland,
MHL: mid-highland)
Data collection and analysis
• Simple ranking and proportional piling
using 100 beans to elicit farmers’ priorities
and perceptions on different topics
• Descriptive statistics, Chi-squared, and
statistical inferential procedure
(multinomial logistic regression analyses)
Pictures
Conclusions
o Participatory tools useful to gather information on
priorities and disease occurrence
o Farmers’ priorities differ to diseases targeted in national
programs
o High agreement between men and women and strong
involvement of women in animal health management,
thus both need to be involved in interventions.
Aim
To understand disease priorities
and epidemiology of diseases in
smallholder farming systems as
perceived by women and men
farmers.
Partners logo
Contact: Solomon Gizaw
s.gizaw@cgiar.org ● Box 5689 Addis Ababa Ethiopia ● +251 11 617 2237 ● ilri.org
This project was funded by LIVES and CGIAR research program on Livestock
This document is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
October 2018
October 2018
Results
Fig 1. Frequency of FGD groups mentioning diseases
• Women and men considered cattle 1.73 and 1.38 times more
important than other farm animals (P<0.001)
• 29 diseases/syndromes were mentioned as priorities, but only 12 were
mentioned by at least 10% of FGDs
• Seasonality and agro-ecology were factors associated with disease occurrence
• Adult men and women are more involved in activities related to disease
transmission compared to other/younger family members.
Table 2. Women and men FGDs priority of disease (compared to lumpy skin disease)
Par
ILRI thanks all donors and organizations which globally support its work through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund.
Region
No. of
districts
No. of
kebeles
Agro-
ecology
Altitude
(m)
Rainfall
(mm)
Temp
(oC)
Amhara 2 4 Moist HL 2636 1137 14.8
2 4 Moist MHL 1912 1081 18.9
2 5 Wet MHL 2023 1486 17.6
Oromia 1 3 Dry MHL 1761 837 19.5
2 4 Moist HL 2583 1137 14.2
2 4 Wet MHL 1892 1759 18.4
SNNPR 1 2 Moist HL 2588 1276 14
1 3 Moist MHL 1948 1213 18
Tigray 1 2 Dry HL 2436 581 16.3
3 6 Dry MHL 2036 612 18.6
Overall 17 37 - - - -
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Actinobasi…
Actinomy…
African-…
Anthrax
Babesiosis
Blackleg
Bloating
Bovine-…
Bovine-TB
CBPP
CCPP
Cowdriosis
Dermatop…
Ectoparasi…
Endopara…
Fasciollosis
FMD
Foot-rot
LSD
Mange
Mastitis
NCD
Ovine…
Rabies
Salmonell…
Schistoso…
Septicemia
trypanoso…
NumbersofFGDs
Amhara Oromia SNNPR Tigray
Men FGD groups Women FGD groups
Diseases a Β
Std.
Error
Sig.
(P)
Odds
ratio β Std. Error
Sig.
(P)
Odds
ratio
Anthrax 0.028 0.018 0.110 1.029 -0.014 0.018 0.420 0.986
Blackleg 0.038 0.018 0.033 1.038 0.027 0.017 0.111 1.027
Bovine
Pasteurellosis -0.021 0.020 0.280 0.979 -0.023 0.018 0.203 0.977
Ectoparasitosis -0.09 0.029 0.002 0.914 -0.064 0.023 0.005 0.938
Endoparasitosis -0.069 0.025 0.006 0.933 -0.071 0.024 0.003 0.932
Fasciolosis -0.08 0.027 0.003 0.923 -0.085 0.026 0.001 0.918
FMD -0.011 0.019 0.565 0.989 -0.01 0.017 0.560 0.99
Foot rot -0.14 0.042 0.001 0.869 -0.124 0.035 0.000 0.883
Mastitis -0.061 0.024 0.012 0.941 -0.069 0.023 0.003 0.933
Ovine
Pasteurellosis -0.137 0.041 0.001 0.872 -0.15 0.043 0.001 0.861
Rabies -0.142 0.042 0.001 0.868 -0.122 0.035 0.000 0.885
Trypanosomiasis -0.078 0.027 0.004 0.925 -0.124 0.035 0.000 0.883