Abstract
BackgroundMass vaccination of owned domestic dogs is crucial for the control of rabies in sub-Saharan Africa. Knowledge of the proportion of households which own dogs, and of the factors associated with dog ownership, is important for the planning and implementation of rabies awareness and dog vaccination programmes, and for the promotion of responsible dog ownership. This paper reports the results of a cross-sectional study of dog ownership by households in urban and rural communities in the United Republic of Tanzania.ResultsFourteen percent (202) of 1,471 households surveyed were identified as dog-owning, with an average of 2.4 dogs per dog-owning household. The percentage of dog-owning households was highest in inland rural areas (24%) and lowest in coastal urban communities (7%). The overall human:dog ratio was 14:1. Multivariable logistic regression revealed that households which owned cattle, sheep or goats were much more likely to own dogs than households with no livestock. Muslim households were less likely to own dogs than Christian households, although this effect of religion was not seen among livestock-owning households. Households were more likely to own a dog if the head of the household was male; if they owned a cat; or if they owned poultry. Dog ownership was also broadly associated with larger, wealthier households.ConclusionThe human:dog ratios in Tanzania are similar to those reported elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, although cultural and geographic variation is evident. Estimation of the number of owned dogs, and identification of household predictors of dog ownership, will enable targeted planning of rabies control efforts.
Highlights
Mass vaccination of owned domestic dogs is crucial for the control of rabies in subSaharan Africa
Dog ownership patterns A total of 1,471 households were interviewed between October 2004 and July 2005 (9.7% of 15,220 identified households across 12 study sites), of which 202 (13.7%) were dog-owning households (DOHH)
The variation seen in the proportion of households owning dogs, with rural areas having a high proportion of dogowning households and coastal urban areas in particular displaying the inverse, reflects the geographic heterogeneity in the distribution of factors operating at a household level: livestock keeping is more common in rural than in urban areas (69.7% of rural households in this study engaged in some form of livestock keeping, compared to 18.2% of urban households), and a higher proportion of Tanzania's coastal population are Muslim (77.6% vs. 40.8% in inland areas – data from this study)
Summary
Mass vaccination of owned domestic dogs is crucial for the control of rabies in subSaharan Africa. Dogs are the most important reservoirs of rabies virus in many parts of the world, in developing regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent and south-east Asia [21], and the vast majority of human rabies fatalities (typically >90%) in these regions are as a consequence of exposure to rabid dogs [22]. The burden of canine rabies often falls disproportionately on those least able to bear it: public health departments in developing countries already faced with controlling burgeoning rates of tuberculosis, malaria and HIV; lowincome rural households from which patients may need to travel long distances to seek treatment; and children, who face a higher risk of rabies exposure and death [23]
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