Public and private sector roles in foot-and-mouth disease control in Cambodia

摘要

The 'Best practice health and husbandry of cattle, Cambodia' (BPHH) project has shown that a centrally controlled foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) vaccination program can measurably protect smallholder cattle if project funding is provided for national government project staff to direct delivery. In addition, it raised the prospect that farmer knowledge interventions can improve productivity, reduce disease risk behaviours and increase interest in self-funded FMD vaccination. In a vaccination study involving collaboration of the BPHH project with the World Organisation for Animal Health South-East Asia and China Foot-and-Mouth Disease Campaign, untrained smallholder farmer attitudes to FMD control were assessed, and a serosurveillance survey was carried out to assess the delivery of FMD vaccine by government and project staff working with smallholder cattle farmers. The effectiveness of routine FMD vaccination was assessed by serological assay and showed that 90% of cattle sampled had antibody titres that suggested immunity from FMD type O by liquid-phase enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) testing at 21 days post-vaccination. However, interviews with participating smallholders in this study found that they cannot be expected to commit themselves adequately to FMD control in the short to medium term, either financially by purchasing vaccine, or technically by improving farm biosecurity. The development of a semi-commercialised cattle production system that might be the foundation for widespread disease risk behavioural change is a long-term prospect. This means that other approaches targeting vaccination and biosecurity that involve more government resources are needed in the interim, such as central government delivery of vaccination to provide sufficient protection in vaccinated villages. Further research is required to measure whether the increase in income generated through marketing of cattle can influence farmer investments in animal health interventions, such as for FMD vaccination.