Zoonotic Diseases and Livelihood of Pastoralists

https://doi.org/10.4314/njpar.v41i2.21

Abstract

Preamble

Society conferences are veritable platforms for bringing experts together to identify and discuss problems with a view to offer solutions to them. The choice of today’s key note address- the zoonotic diseases and livelihood of pastoralists - leaves no doubt of the society’s commitment not to turn deaf ears to one of the yearning problems of a less privileged class, the pastoralists. My profound gratitude goes to the executive of the Parasitology and Public Health Society of Nigeria for affording me the opportunity to speak on this topic which is one of the areas of public health that I have special interest in for several decades now.

Introduction

Pastoralists are traditional livestock keepers using extensive grazing on rangelands with movement of animals each day for fresh pasture and water usually from permanent settlements. Mostly residing in developing regions in over 100 countries mainly in tropical Africa, Asia and South America; they number several millions with about 268 millions of them in Africa alone, where they form over a quarter of total population and occupy about 43% of the continent total land mass [1]. In Nigeria, the livestock sector which they dominate is capable of generating annual revenue running into billions of US dollars and providing valuable protein for human population.

Most of them are poverty stricken and live a life in many respects like that described for the Tanala and Betsideo tribes in southeastern Madagascar [2].As in other less privileged population groups, most of them live in habitations of precarious or inadequate constructions, such as thatched houses with varying degrees of cracks and crevices in furniture, floor and wall. The level of sanitation and personal hygiene is generally low like any population group in most developing countries.

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