Benefits of “One Health” for African pastoralists

“One health” is particularly suited to serve mobile pastoralists. The article The benefits of ‘One Health’ for pastoralists in Africa, which appeared in the Ondersteport Journal of Veterinary Research 81(2) in 2014, describes the added value in terms of improved health of humans and animals, financial savings and/or environmental services resulting from a closer cooperation of the human-health and animal-health sectors. It presents a summary of “one health” studies with mobile pastoralists in Africa that showed such an added value. Initial joint studies of human and animal health revealed higher vaccination coverage of the herds than of the pastoralist community. Joint animal and human vaccination interventions led to better access to primary healthcare services for pastoralists. With the advent of mobile phones, health and demographic surveillance could be established for mobile pastoralists and their animals to assess vaccination coverage in mobile populations and facilitate disease control.

Posted on 1 February 2016 in Pastoralism & Services