Abstract
AbstractThis article examines the relationships between livestock vaccinations, herd introduction decisions, and livestock disease–related outcomes. We develop a theoretical model and derive testable hypotheses about the relationships between these outcomes and practices and test them using two-stage least squares regression analysis. We find that vaccinations reduce disease-related livestock deaths, implying that vaccine availability and use may improve herd and household welfare. We do not find robust evidence of increase in disease-related illness due to herd introductions. Our results highlight the role of livestock vaccinations in safeguarding herd value, which is connected to broader household welfare for livestock keepers of Eastern Africa.
Highlights
Livestock health is economically important for livestock keepers of East Africa who rely on their livestock for income, wealth, and nutrition
This article examines the relationships between vaccination decisions for illness prevention, animal introduction decisions for herd maintenance, and disease-related livestock losses in the form of livestock death and abortions. We examine these relationships using primary survey–based cross-sectional data collected in northern Tanzania
To support our analysis based on crosssectional data in a parsimonious framework, we develop a static, partial agricultural household model
Summary
Livestock health is economically important for livestock keepers of East Africa who rely on their livestock for income, wealth, and nutrition. Livestock health and productivity in the region are constrained by multiple factors, including infectious disease. Livestock disease and health outcomes depend on a host of environmental factors and household herd management decisions. Management strategies like livestock quarantine and vaccination can limit individual animal exposure and susceptibility and are valuable measures to prevent diseases that negatively affect households. The uptake of livestock vaccines is hampered in Tanzania and East Africa more broadly by several factors, including limited supply of quality vaccines, poor vaccine transport infrastructure, credit constraints, and information asymmetries (Homewood et al 2006; Railey et al 2018; Railey and Marsh 2019; Waithanji, Kairu-Wanyoike, and Liani 2019; Waithanji, Mtimet, and Muindi 2019)
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