Participatory evaluation of delivery of animal health care services by community animal health workers in Karamoja region of Uganda.

James Bugeza,Edward Okori,James Muleme,Joseph Sserugga,Noelina Nantima,Terence Odoch,Clovice Kankya,Ann Akandinda,Sanjay B Jadhao

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0179110

Abstract

AimAn evaluation exercise was carried out to assess the performance of Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) in the delivery of animal health care services in Karamoja region, identify capacity gaps and recommend remedial measures.Materials & methodsParticipatory methods were used to design data collection tools. Questionnaires were administered to 204 CAHWs, 215 farmers and 7 District Veterinary Officers (DVOs) to collect quantitative data. Seven DVOs and 1 Non Government Organization (NGO) representative were interviewed as key informants and one focus group discussion was conducted with a farmer group in Nakapiripirit to collect qualitative data. Questionnaire data was analyzed using SPSS version 19. Key messages from interviews and the focus group discussion were recorded in a notebook and reported verbatim.Results70% of the farmers revealed that CAHWs are the most readily available animal health care service providers in their respective villages. CAHWs were instrumental in treatment of sick animals, disease surveillance, control of external parasites, animal production, vaccination, reporting, animal identification, and performing minor surgeries. Regarding their overall performance 88.8%(191/215) of the farmers said they were impressed. The main challenges faced by the CAHWs were inadequate facilitation, lack of tools and equipments, unwillingness of government to integrate them into the formal extension system, poor information flow, limited technical capacity to diagnose diseases, unwillingness of farmers to pay for services and sustainability issues.Conclusions and recommendationsCAHWs remain the main source of animal health care services in Karamoja region and their services are largely satisfactory. The technical deficits identified require continuous capacity building programs, close supervision and technical backstopping. For sustainability of animal health care services in the region continuous training and strategic deployment of paraprofessionals that are formally recognised by the traditional civil service to gradually replace CAHWs is recommended.

Highlights

Livestock and livestock products play a key role in raising incomes of households and providing a source of protein to many families
Community Animal Health Workers (CAHWs) remain the main source of animal health care services in Karamoja region and their services are largely satisfactory
For sustainability of animal health care services in the region continuous training and strategic deployment of paraprofessionals that are formally recognised by the traditional civil service to gradually replace CAHWs is recommended

Summary

Introduction

Livestock and livestock products play a key role in raising incomes of households and providing a source of protein to many families. According to analysis of poverty trends using the Uganda National Household Survey (UNHS), households that have a crop livestock enterprise mix tend to be generally less poor [1]. Delivery of veterinary services in areas of low population density, where there has been experience of conflict or insecurity, and where there may be diverse and nomadic populations, can pose significant challenges. One such obstacle is the high prevalence of hard-to-reach populations living in physically remote areas. There has been a gradual decline in the delivery of state veterinary services due to unfavorable policies and insecurity in some parts of Uganda, especially the Karamoja region. The most vulnerable groups, for whom animal diseases are devastating, are poor livestock farmers and farming communities [5]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion