Mobile apps for improving record keeping in the Kenyan Pig Industry - antibiotic use and pig performance

牲畜生产中的记录保存为动物健康带来了相当大的好处，有助于早期发现疾病和管理问题。虽然它通常是任何大型农业经营的一个组成部分，但小生产者很少有培训或工具可供他们保存记录，或者即使他们有，他们也不能总是在决策中使用这些记录。在低收入国家，对发生的任何牲畜健康问题的第一反应往往是农民使用抗生素，因为无需处方就可以从药店随时获得抗生素。无监督和无记录的销售使得极为难以监测对人类健康至关重要的药物的使用情况，而且抗生素的销售和使用往往不当，导致抗菌素耐药性水平不断上升。即使在家畜抗生素使用由训练有素的兽医专业人员监督的地方，药物选择仍然可能是不合理的，并且没有办法报告对治疗的可疑无反应，这可能是ABR的早期指征。这个问题由于缺乏诊断设施而变得更加复杂，这意味着农场往往不可能确定牲畜疾病的原因，并选择最适当的治疗或管理干预措施。这一问题在猪和家禽部门尤为严重，与反刍动物部门的兽医供应相比，这两个部门的专家很少。工业生猪养殖户有优秀的记录系统，但需要大量投资；该项目的目的是为智能手机开发一款移动应用程序，适合东非中小型农场（定义为每年平均生产100头猪）使用，那里的农民正在投资从小农转向面向市场的生产，以满足对动物源食品日益增长的需求。功能将包括记录生长率和仔猪死亡率的系统，这些变化可能是疾病问题的指标。它还将记录正在使用的抗生素，当选择可能不合适的药物时（例如，当一头猪太接近其屠宰体重时，由于肉中有残留，某些类型的抗生素无法使用），它会自动向用户发出警告。这款应用程序将整合一个反馈系统，这样农民就可以看到他们与当地其他人相比做得如何，此外还有关于良好管理和可能出现的健康问题的指导手册。该应用程序的初步开发将与一家与大量小规模合同农民合作的商业养猪生产公司合作：将为公司兽医开发汇总报告，以便监测是否遵守协议，怀疑对治疗无反应或过度使用抗菌剂，这可能会突出需要调查的问题。这也可以与在该公司屠宰场屠宰的猪的疾病体征观察相结合，以提供疾病监测报告，突出可能的疾病热点或耐药性。第二个移动应用程序将由肉类检查员使用，将根据我们的研究小组已经使用的用于收集屠宰场数据的现有应用程序开发或修改。整合公司不同部门（自有农场、屠宰场、小规模承包商）的数据将是该项目的一个关键特征。将合同农场与公司更紧密地联系起来，将使农民能够要求公司的外联小组提供建议或对问题进行调查，并使集中兽医能够监测并更快地对社区问题作出反应。由50个中小型承包商组成的小组将对应用程序的易用性、可感知的收益和成本效益进行评估。根据成本效益，该项目的最后阶段将是研究向肯尼亚乃至更广泛地区的小生产者推出应用程序的选择。

Record-keeping in livestock production brings considerable benefits for animal health, aiding early detection of disease and management problems. Whilst it is normally an integral part of any large farming operation, small producers rarely have the training or tools available to them to keep records, or where they do, they cannot always then use these in decision making. In low-income countries, the first response to any livestock health problem that occurs is often for the farmer to administer antibiotics, as they are readily available from drug stores without prescription. Unsupervised and unrecorded sales makes it extremely difficult to monitor the use of drugs critical for human health, and antibiotics are often sold and used inappropriately, contributing to growing levels of antibacterial resistance (ABR). Even where antibiotic use in livestock is supervised by trained veterinary professionals, drug selection can still be irrational, and there are no means of reporting suspect non-response to treatment, which can be an early indication of ABR. The problem is compounded by the lack of diagnostic facilities, meaning it is often impossible for farms to identify the cause of disease in their livestock and select the most appropriate treatment or management intervention. This issue is particularly acute in the pig and poultry sectors, which have very few specialists available, compared to the veterinary provision for the ruminant sector.Excellent recording systems exist for industrial pig producers, but require considerable investment; the aim of this project is to develop a mobile app for smartphones, suitable for use by small-to medium size farms in East Africa (defined as average annual production of 100 pigs per year), where farmers are investing to move from small holder to market oriented production to meet increasing demand for animal source foods. Features will include a system for recording growth rates and piglet mortality, changes in which may be indicators of a disease problem. It will also record antibiotics being administered, with automated warnings for the user when a potentially unsuitable drug is selected (for example, when a pig is too close to its slaughter weight for certain types of antibiotic to be used because of residues in the meat). The app will incorporate a feedback system so that farmers can see how they are doing in comparison to others in their local area, plus manuals with guidance on good management and possible health problems. The initial development of the app will be undertaken in partnership with a commercial pig production company that works with a large number of small scale contract farmers: Aggregated reports will be developed for the company vets to allow monitoring of compliance with protocols, suspected non-response to treatment or excessive use of antimicrobials, which may highlight problems requiring investigation. This can also be integrated with observations of disease signs in pigs slaughtered at the company's abattoir, to provide disease surveillance reports highlighting possible hotspots of disease or drug resistance. A second mobile app, to be used by meat inspectors, will be developed or modified from an existing app already in use by our research group to collect abattoir data. Integration of data across the different arms of the company (own farms, abattoirs, small scale contractors) will be a key feature of this project. Linking contract farms more closely with the company will allow farmers to request advice or investigation of problems by the company's outreach teams, and allow centralised vets to monitor and respond more quickly to problems in the community.Apps will be evaluated with a group of 50 small-to-medium contractors for ease of use, perceived benefits and cost-effectiveness. Depending on the cost-benefit, the final stage to the project will be to investigate options to roll out apps to small producers across Kenya and potentially the wider region.