ETHICOBOTS (Ethiopia Control of Bovine Tuberculosis Strategies)

埃塞俄比亚是撒哈拉以南非洲人口第二多的国家，人口增长迅速。它是一个最不发达的农业国家，正在努力摆脱极端贫困，通过雄心勃勃的国家增长和转型计划，到2025年实现中等收入地位。畜牧业在国民收入中占很大比例，是经济发展的支柱之一。传统的粗放式养殖系统与生产力较低的本地瘤牛正在补充和取代密集养殖的进口荷斯坦-弗里斯兰及其杂交品种在快速增长的城市人口对乳制品和肉类产品的高需求的驱动下。虽然牛结核病（bTB）是埃塞俄比亚的地方病，但由于当地的瘤牛具有相对的耐药性，因此患病率较低。然而，主要城市中心周围奶牛场的扩张造成了结核病感染的外来牛的热点。与发达国家不同，埃塞俄比亚没有法律的要求对受感染的牛进行检测和扑杀，bTB可能通过非洲奶牛场的扩增在整个牛贸易路线上迅速传播，城市地区是一个真实的新出现的危险。我们建议通过一系列相互关联的社会措施，在调查和分析疾病流行病学及其决定因素的基础上，制定埃塞俄比亚bTB的控制战略。和生物科学研究，包括新兴的畜牧业系统，受影响的农民的生计和现有的工具，为bTB控制。我们将确定不同地区奶牛的疾病流行率，捕获牛交易和交换机制，研究家庭的风险管理和缓解措施，并记录流行的社会，文化和经济因素如何影响它们。我们将量化暴露于密集型农场和屠宰场工人中的bTB负担，并确定如何管理贫困家庭的疾病和健康。当地对感染和疾病传播、应对机制和性别角色的看法将有助于解释消费做法。反过来，这些可能会增加疾病风险，并在不断扩大的高风险群体中影响贫困和福祉。我们会比较本地牛和荷斯坦牛对疾病的易感性，并评估卡介苗接种对杂交牛的保护程度。根据这些调查收集的多学科信息，我们将评估各种bTB控制策略的可行性，如接种疫苗，控制动物运动和埃塞俄比亚范围内的健康教育。我们将确定影响执行的因素，如成本效益、社会和文化的可接受性和实用性。这将与埃塞俄比亚研究人员和机构的有针对性的能力建设相协调，以加强多学科的科学能力，促进长期的可持续地方研究。研究结果将提供实用和有效的bTB控制战略，这些战略一旦实施，将大大降低bTB的高发病率及其在不断扩大的乳制品部门的人畜共患病转移;最大限度地减少受bTB感染的奶牛的交易，以保护国家的瘤牛群和贫困农民的生计;并减少高危人群中人畜共患病的风险。目前的提案建立在与埃塞俄比亚政府就bTB成功合作的经验基础上，重点关注这个发展中国家畜牧业系统性质的快速变化，即奶牛场，这对穷人的生计和健康产生了影响。该项目将在相关政府单位和当地社区的积极参与下实施，以最大限度地将成果落实到政策和实践中。主要预期成果是减少人畜共患疾病对最不发达国家穷人及其牲畜的影响。

Ethiopia is the second most populous sub-Saharan African country with a rapidly growing population. It is a least-developed, predominantly agrarian country struggling to emerge from extreme poverty, through an ambitious national growth and transformation plan, to achieve middle income status by 2025. Livestock contributes to a high proportion of national income and is one of the pillars to economic development. Traditional extensive farming systems with the less productive local Zebu cattle are being supplemented and replaced with intensive farming of imported Holstein-Friesian and their cross breeds at a rapid rate driven by high demand for dairy and meat products of a rapidly growing urban population. Although bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is endemic in Ethiopia, the prevalence is low among the local Zebu cattle because of their relative resistance. Expansion of dairy farms around major urban centres has however created hotspots of TB infected exotic cattle. With no legal requirement to test and cull infected cattle in Ethiopia, unlike in developed countries, the potential for rapid spread of bTB across the cattle trade routes through amplification by the dairy farms in peri-urban areas is a real emerging danger.We propose to develop control strategies for bTB in Ethiopia based on investigation and analysis of the epidemiology of the disease and its determinants through a series of interlinked social and biological science studies, encompassing the emerging livestock system, livelihood of affected farmers and available tools for bTB control. We will determine disease prevalence among dairy cattle in different areas, capture cattle trading and exchange mechanisms, study risk management and mitigation practices for households and document how prevailing social, cultural and economic factors impact them. We will quantify the burden of bTB among exposed intensive farm and abattoir workers and determine how illness and health is managed in poor families. Local perceptions of infection and disease transmission, coping mechanisms and gender roles in order will help explain consumption practices. In turn, these may enhance disease risk and impact poverty and wellbeing amongst an expanding high risk group. We will compare disease susceptibility among the local and Holstein cattle and evaluate the degree of protection given by BCG vaccination to cross-breed cattle. Based on the multidisciplinary information gathered by these investigations, we will assess the feasibility of various bTB control strategies such as vaccination, control of animal movements and health education within the Ethiopian context. We will determine factors that affect implementation such as cost-efficiency, social and cultural acceptability and practicality. This will be coordinated with targeted capacity building of Ethiopian researchers and institutions to enhance multidisciplinary scientific capabilities for sustainable local research for the longer term.The results will provide practical and effective bTB control strategies, which when applied, will significantly reduce the high rate of bTB and its zoonotic transfer in the expanding dairy sector; minimize trading of bTB infected dairy cattle to protect the national zebu herd and the livelihood of poor farmers; and reduce the risk of zoonosis in high risk populations. The current proposal builds on previous experience of a successful collaboration with the Ethiopian Government on bTB to focus on an emerging rapid change in the nature of livestock systems in this developing country, dairy farms, that impact on the livelihoods and health of poor people. The project will be carried out with the active participation of the relevant government units and local communities in the field to maximize the likelihood of implementation of results into policy and practice. The main expected outcome is reduced impact of a zoonotic disease on poor people and their livestock in a least developed country.