Abstract
Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) is a zoonotic bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium bovis and is characterized by the development of granulomatous lesions in the lymph nodes, lungs and other tissues. It poses serious public health impacts and food security challenges to the agricultural sector in terms of dairy and meat productions. In Ethiopia, BTB has been considered as a priority disease because of its high prevalence in urban and peri-urban dairy farms. However, there has not been any national control program in the country. Thus, in order to initiate BTB control program in the country, information on control options is needed to tailor the best option for the Ethiopian situation. The objective of this study was to identify, evaluate and rank various BTB control options in Ethiopia using a multi-criteria decision analysis based on preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations (PROMETHEE) approach while accounting for the stakeholders' preferences. Control options were evaluated under two scenarios: with (scenario 1) and without (scenario 2) bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccination. Nine potential control options were identified that include combinations of three control options (1) test and slaughter with or without government support, (2) test and segregation, and (3) BCG vaccination. Under scenario 1, BCG vaccination, BCG vaccination and test and slaughter with partial compensation by government, and BCG vaccination and test and slaughter with full compensation by government were the top three ranked control options. Under scenario 2, test and slaughter with full compensation by government was the preferred control option, followed by test and segregation supported by test and slaughter with full government compensation, and test and slaughter with half compensation by government. Irrespective of the variability in the weighting by the stakeholders, the sensitivity analysis showed the robustness of the ranking method. In conclusion, the study demonstrated that BCG vaccination, and test and slaughter with full compensation by government were the two most preferred control options under scenarios 1 and 2, respectively. National level discussions were strongly recommended for further concretization and implementation of these control measures.
Highlights
BTB is a zoonotic bacterial infection caused by M. bovis, a member of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex [1]
From the 10 stakeholders participate in the Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) process (S1–S10), nine were from the government organization and one stakeholder represented an association of privately owned dairy farmers (Table 1)
The stakeholders agreed that BTB is a major problem and that the prevalence is high in dairy herds with exotic cattle breeds and their crosses kept under semi intensive or intensive production system in urban and peri-urban dairy farming
Summary
BTB is a zoonotic bacterial infection caused by M. bovis, a member of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex [1]. It causes a serious public health impact and food security and safety challenges [2]. Even though there are no comprehensive studies to estimate the global socio-economic costs of BTB, it causes significant economic losses due to production losses such as reduced milk yield, cost of surveillance and control programs and trade barriers with a major impact on the livelihoods of poor and marginalized communities [5]. Public health risk and economic loss associated with M. bovis were considerably reduced or eliminated through the implementation of strict test-and-slaughter and meat inspection protocols for cattle, milk pasteurization, financial compensation to farmers and public education [6, 7].
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