Field Research Studies in Tanzania and Uganda
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Initial Findings
A field research study has been conducted in the north-western region in Tanzania and in the south-western region in Uganda, and will soon be expanded to cover the eastern region in Rwanda. The study covered eight districts (four in both Tanzania and Uganda) along the border regions of these two countries.
- The study, the first study of its kind, has revealed the extent and complexity of biosecurity problems in the study area hitherto not well understood by researchers, and often underestimated by policy makers.
- Biosecurity problems (diseases of humans, livestock and crops) have been on the increase since the 1970s. Old infections have re-emerged, and, in some cases, become more virulent (for humans TB, worm infestation; foot and mouth disease for livestock; and among crops, banana weevils and nematodes), while new infectious diseases continue to emerge (HIV and AIDS for humans; contagious bovine pleuro-pneumonia for cattle; and among crops, banana xanthomonas wilt, cassava mosaic virus, coffee fusarium wilt) (See Figure 1).
- Diseases of human, livestock and crops co-occur in space and time, but this is not a coincidence (See Table 1). Rather, it is a function of changes in the natural environment (climate change, changes in land use, introduction of new crops, deforestation, construction of dams), and the social environment (mobility, trade, culture, concentration/mixing of domestic/wild species). The key element from the perspective of transboundary biosecurity concerns is the degree of people’s movement along border regions, within and between countries, and the degree of concentration/mixing of humans, crops and livestock occurring in endemic areas.
- The spatial distribution of diseases varies across agro-ecological zones, as well as between households or communities in the same agro-ecological zone.
- Infectious diseases do not operate in a social vacuum (See Figure 2). To better understand the epidemiology and social history of transboundary diseases of humans, livestock and crops, there is a need to develop a broader analytical framework encompassing analysis of the natural environment, the social environment, and the institutional environment in which these diseases occur. These elements interact, and collectively they render households and communities susceptible to diseases and vulnerable to their impact.
- Governments lack strategic approach and institutional to prevention and control diseases. None of the eight districts covered by the study has a strategy for prevention and control of the observed biosecurity problems.
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Photo Gallery
To access photos of crop pests and diseases identified along the border regions of Tanzania and Uganda, along with observed impacts, follow link for Photo Gallery.
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