Summary
Bovine
brucellosis is disease of economic and public health significance
in sub-Saharan Africa. The disease is distributed worldwide but
some countries have been able to eradicate brucellosis from their
territories using elaborate brucellosis control and eradication
programmes that have been targeted primarily at livestock (the main
reservoir host for the disease). This has been achieved mainly by
vaccination, test and slaughter, as well as by regular surveillance
for early detection of the disease. Despite the level of knowledge
on the epidemiology of bovine brucellosis, there has been limited
success in controlling bovine brucellosis in sub-Saharan Africa.
Some of the problems associated with the surveillance and control
of bovine brucellosis in sub-Saharan Africa include poor disease
reporting, insufficient financial resources of governments (poor
economic status of most countries in sub-Saharan Africa), as well
as competing national health priorities, inadequate infrastructures
and personnel, the commonly practised seasonal grazing or transhumant
husbandry systems and communal grazing, inadequate monitoring of
the disease in wildlife and poor communication and education of
stakeholders. Since previous attempts at the control of bovine brucellosis
have failed in Africa, it was considered important to address this
aspect, using an approach that differed from the classic veterinary
regulatory approach. Possible ways of dealing with this problem
using complementary measures to the conventional approaches are
also proposed.
Keywords
Africa,
Bovine, Brucellosis, Control, Cooperation, Nigeria, Public health.
|