Abstract
A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted in Debre-Birhan town, North shoa, Ethiopia, with the objectives of assessing the knowledge, attitude and practices (KAP) of the study participants with respect to milk borne zoonoses; and to determine the effect of demographic character of respondents on knowledge, attitude and practice of zoonotic diseases. Data were collected from the respondents through administering semi-structured questionnaire across the randomly selected collection centers, retailers, consumers and smallholder dairy farmers of the towns. The questionnaire was administered to 230 respondents (5 milk collection centers, 100 consumers, 40 retailers and 85 smallholder dairy farms). The study result showed that 63.5% of the respondents from the total study population knew diseases can be acquired through consumptions of raw cow milk, 61.3% of respondents did not know the names of milk borne zoonotic diseases, and 50.9% of the respondents’ forms of milk preference were raw milk. Of the total respondents, 35.2% had no idea of prevention of milk borne zoonotic diseases. In this study, 92.2% of the respondent did not get formal training on zoonotic diseases. Statistically there was strong association between educational level and KAP of the respondents on milk borne zoonosis, (p<0.05). There was statistically significance difference (p<0.05) on KAP of milk borne zoonosis of the respondents between urban and peri-urban areas. In the current study, the study population has low level of awareness regarding milk borne zoonoses. One way to approach this problem would be to develop educational outreach programs for dairy producers, and public at large, that focuses on issues related to the preventions of consumption of raw milk and milk borne zoonoses. Key words: Debre-Birhan, milk borne zoonotic diseases, respondents.
Highlights
Ethiopia, one of the developing countries, constitutes both urban and peri-urban dairying as an important subsector of the agricultural production system
The higher count in milk could be attributed to the substandard hygienic conditions practiced during production and subsequent handling, while the high count in fermented milk products can be partly explained by the presence of lactic acid bacteria (Yilma, 2010)
Most of the respondents participating in milk value chain were females constituting 4(80%) of milk collection center, 28 (70%) of retailers, and 61 (71.8%) of SDHs
Summary
One of the developing countries, constitutes both urban and peri-urban dairying as an important subsector of the agricultural production system. Given the considerable potential for smallholder employment and income generation from high-value dairy products, development of the dairy sector in Ethiopia can contribute significantly to poverty alleviation and nutrition in the country (Mohammed et al, 2004). Samples taken from 10 dairy potential areas in the country reported a similar observation and mentioned that microbial counts in samples of whole milk are higher than the standard (Yilma, 2010). The higher count in milk could be attributed to the substandard hygienic conditions practiced during production and subsequent handling, while the high count in fermented milk products can be partly explained by the presence of lactic acid bacteria (Yilma, 2010)
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