Livestock,nutrition, and intrahousehold resource control in Uasin Gishu district,Kenya

Increased livestock production in developing countries is seen as one way to improve world food supply. However, the impact of increased livestock production on household health and nutrition is unknown. This paper examines linkages between commercialization of livestock production and household nutrition. Linkages include income, resource allocation, food consumption, and human disease risk. Data from Uasin Gishu district, Kenya, show higher consumption of animal products for large commercialized farms, along with greater control of milk sales by men. Effects of livestock development may thus differ by gender, and may include both positive and negative impacts.     

Gender and livestock in African production systems: An introduction

Since the 1970s, the study of gender relations and labor and resource use in different production systems has become an important subject of inquiry. While there has been recent interest in gender and livestock issues in pastoral societies, most of the work on gender and agriculture to date has focused primarily upon the role of women in crop production, to the virtual exclusion of the contributions women, children, and the elderly make to the livestock component of the farming system. The topic of gender (broadly defined to include age and sex criteria) and livestock management was addressed at a session at the 1992 Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association entitled, Gender and Livestock in African Production Systems, the contributions to which form the basis of the present volume. Topics presented in the papers include: a conceptual framework for investigation of gender and livestock production and disease control, responsibility for productive tasks, livestock ownership and rights to livestock products, and impacts of and responses to change. Nearly all papers in the volume argue explicitly or implicitly for the need to include gender considerations in the planning of livestock development programs, thereby rendering the collection of interest to both scientits and policymakers.     

Linking Human Health and Livestock Health: A “One-Health” Platform for Integrated Analysis of Human Health,Livestock Health,and Economic Welfare in Livestock Dependent Communities

Background

For most rural households in sub-Saharan Africa, healthy livestock play a key role in averting the burden associated with zoonotic diseases, and in meeting household nutritional and socio-economic needs. However, there is limited understanding of the complex nutritional, socio-economic, and zoonotic pathways that link livestock health to human health and welfare. Here we describe a platform for integrated human health, animal health and economic welfare analysis designed to address this challenge. We provide baseline epidemiological data on disease syndromes in humans and the animals they keep, and provide examples of relationships between human health, animal health and household socio-economic status.

Method

We designed a study to obtain syndromic disease data in animals along with economic and behavioral information for 1500 rural households in Western Kenya already participating in a human syndromic disease surveillance study. Data collection started in February 2013, and each household is visited bi-weekly and data on four human syndromes (fever, jaundice, diarrhea and respiratory illness) and nine animal syndromes (death, respiratory, reproductive, musculoskeletal, nervous, urogenital, digestive, udder disorders, and skin disorders in cattle, sheep, goats and chickens) are collected. Additionally, data from a comprehensive socio-economic survey is collected every 3 months in each of the study households.

Findings

Data from the first year of study showed 93% of the households owned at least one form of livestock (55%, 19%, 41% and 88% own cattle, sheep, goats and chickens respectively). Digestive disorders, mainly diarrhea episodes, were the most common syndromes observed in cattle, goats and sheep, accounting for 56% of all livestock syndromes, followed by respiratory illnesses (18%). In humans, respiratory illnesses accounted for 54% of all illnesses reported, followed by acute febrile illnesses (40%) and diarrhea illnesses (5%). While controlling for household size, the incidence of human illness increased 1.31-fold for every 10 cases of animal illness or death observed (95% CI 1.16–1.49). Access and utilization of animal source foods such as milk and eggs were positively associated with the number of cattle and chickens owned by the household. Additionally, health care seeking was correlated with household incomes and wealth, which were in turn correlated with livestock herd size.

Conclusion

This study platform provides a unique longitudinal dataset that allows for the determination and quantification of linkages between human and animal health, including the impact of healthy animals on human disease averted, malnutrition, household educational attainment, and income levels.     

Gender-based disparities East/West: rethinking the burden of care in the United States and Taiwan

When feminist bioethicists express concerns about health-related gender disparities, they raise considerations about justice and gender that traditional bioethicists have either not raised or raised somewhat weakly. In this article, I first provide a feminist analysis of long-term healthcare by and for women in the United States and women in Taiwan. Next, I make the case that, on average, elderly US and Taiwanese women fare less well in long-term care contexts than do elderly US and Taiwanese men. Finally, I explore some suggested practical remedies to reduce gender disparities in long-term care contexts.     

Need for and Access to Health Care and Medicines: Are There Gender Inequities?

Objective

Differences between women and men in political and economic empowerment, education, and health risks are well-documented. Similar gender inequities in access to care and medicines have been hypothesized but evidence is lacking.

Methods

We analyzed 2002 World Health Survey data for 257,922 adult respondents and 80,932 children less than 5 years old from 53 mostly low and middle-income countries. We constructed indicators of need for, access to, and perceptions of care, and we described the number of countries with equal and statistically different proportions of women and men for each indicator. Using multivariate logistic regression models, we estimated effects of gender on our study outcomes, overall and by household poverty.

Findings

Women reported significantly more need for care for three of six chronic conditions surveyed, and they were more likely to have at least one of the conditions (OR 1.41 [95% CI 1.38, 1.44]). Among those with reported need for care, there were no consistent differences in access to care between women and men overall (e.g., treatment for all reported chronic conditions, OR 1.00 [0.96, 1.04]) or by household poverty. Of concern, access to care for chronic conditions was distressingly low among both men and women in many countries, as was access to preventive services among boys and girls less than 5 years old.

Conclusions

These cross-country results do not suggest a systematic disadvantage of women in access to curative care and medicines for treating selected chronic conditions or acute symptoms, or to preventive services among boys and girls.     

Characteristics of people with the perceived stress in croatia: the CroHort study

This study aimed to assess levels of stress in Croatian adult population using PSS, in a population study (Croatian Adult Cohort Health Study - CroHort). Our results show that the levels of stress were 17.46 (SD = 6.73) for men and 18.32 (SD = 6.46) for women in Croatia. The lowest levels of stress experienced men living in urban area while women living in rural area had the highest level. Men and women who had university degree had significantly lower level of stress. The lowest levels of stress experienced participants who had much better financial condition than average. In men, stress was associated to weak heart, lower back pain, poor financial condition of the household and high alcohol consumption. In women, stress was associated to poor mental health, poor social functioning, poorer financial condition of the household, higher age, lower education, low monthly income of the household and poor general health.     

A critical analysis of disease-associated DNA polymorphisms in the genes of cattle,goat, sheep,and pig

Genetic variations through their effects on gene expression and protein function underlie disease susceptibility in farm animal species. The variations are in the form of single nucleotide polymorphisms, deletions/insertions of nucleotides or whole genes, gene or whole chromosomal rearrangements, gene duplications, and copy number polymorphisms or variants. They exert varying degrees of effects on gene action, such as substitution of an amino acid for another, shift in reading frame and premature termination of translation, and complete deletion of entire exon(s) or gene(s) in diseased individuals. These factors influence gene function by affecting mRNA splicing pattern or by altering/eliminating protein function. Elucidating the genetic bases of diseases under the control of many genes is very challenging, and it is compounded by several factors, including host × pathogen × environment interactions. In this review, the genetic variations that underlie several diseases of livestock (under monogenic and polygenic control) are analyzed. Also, factors hampering research efforts toward identification of genetic influences on animal disease identification and control are highlighted. A better understanding of the factors analyzed could be better harnessed to effectively identify and control, genetically, livestock diseases. Finally, genetic control of animal diseases can reduce the costs associated with diseases, improve animal welfare, and provide healthy animal products to consumers, and should be given more attention.     

Liver disease in women. Alcohol,autoimmunity, and gallstones.

Some liver diseases, such as autoimmune liver disease, affect women far more often than men. Others, such as alcohol-related disease, progress more rapidly in women than in men. An increased index of suspicion will lead to improved diagnosis and earlier treatment of women with liver disease.     

Introduced deer and their potential role in disease transmission to livestock in Australia

相似文献   

Impacts of intensive dairy production on smallholder farm women in coastal Kenya

Welfare impacts of an intensive dairy technology package on women and their families are investigated on 32 smallholder crop-livestock farms in the sub-humid zone off Kilifi District, Coast Province, Kenya. Farms were stratified according to male or female extension contact. A female enumerator interviewed the wife or female head of household on each farm regarding her present and past household responsibilities and the affects of the intensive dairy enterprise on these duties and upon the welfare of the household. On three-quarters of the male contact farms, dairy operators were women. Across all farms, women performed half of all dairy-related activities, but only on female contact farms did income from the dairy enterprise accrue to women in proportion to their labor input. The equitable return of benefits to labor corresponded with better dairy unit performance on female contact farms, where women also indicated greater access to and autonomy over household resources and decision-making. Irrespective of extension contact, there was broad consensus among the women interviewed that intensive dairying has led to improved household welfare, primarily through increased household income and milk consumption. There was also wide agreement, however, that these gains have been achieved at the expense of more work for women. Women on female contact farms were observed spending dairy income on food for the household and childrens' schooling more often than their counterparts on male contact farms. Based on these and other findings, the study concludes that gender of the extension contact, dairy operator and farm owner were determinants of the intra-household impacts of intensive dairying on the smallholder farms in this study. Recommendations for design and delivery of livestock technologies for crop-based farming systems, with special emphasis on how to minimize negative impact on vulnerable household members, are inferred from study findings.Formerly International Livestock Research Institute, P.O. Box 30709, Nairobi, Kenya.     

Gender Differentials in Self-Rated Health and Self-Reported Disability among Adults in India

Background

The extant literature on gender differentials in health in developed countries suggests that women outlive men at all ages, but women report poorer health than men. It is well established that Indian women live longer than men, but few studies have been conducted to understand the gender dimension in self-rated health and self-reported disability. The present study investigates gender differentials in self-rated health (SRH) and self-reported disability (SRD) among adults in India, using a nationally representative data.

Methods

Using data on 10,736 respondents aged 18 and older in the 2007 WHO Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health in India, prevalence estimates of SRH are calculated separately for men and women by socio-economic and demographic characteristics. The association of SRH with gender is tested using a multinomial logistic regression method. SRD is assessed using 20 activities of daily living (ADL). Further, gender differences in total life expectancy (TLE), disability life expectancy (DLE) and the proportion of life spent with a disability at various adult ages are measured.

Results

The relative risk of reporting poor health by women was significantly higher than men (relative risk ratio: 1.660; 95% confidence Interval (CI): 1.430–1.927) after adjusting for socio-economic and demographic characteristics. Women reported higher prevalence of severe and extreme disability than men in 14 measures out of a total20 ADL measures. Women aged less than 60 years reported two times more than men in SRD ≥ 5 ADLs. Finally, both DLE and proportion of life spent with a disability were substantially higher for women irrespective of their ages.

Conclusion

Indian women live longer but report poorer health than men. A substantial gender differential is found in self-reported disability. This makes for an urgent call to health researchers and policy makers for gender-sensitive programs.     

Epidemiology of brucellosis in cattle and dairy farmers of rural Ludhiana,Punjab

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease imposing significant impacts on livestock production and public health worldwide. India is the world’s leading milk producer and Punjab is the state which produces the most cattle and buffalo milk per capita. The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemiology of bovine brucellosis to provide evidence for control of the disease in Punjab State, India. A cross-sectional study of dairy farms was conducted in humans and livestock in rural Ludhiana district using a multi-stage sampling strategy. The study suggests that brucellosis is endemic at high levels in cattle and buffalo in the study area with 15.1% of large ruminants testing seropositive and approximately a third of dairy farms having at least one animal test seropositive. In total, 9.7% of those in direct contact with livestock tested seropositive for Brucella spp. Persons that assisted with calving and/or abortion within the last year on a farm with seronegative livestock and people which did not assist with calving/abortion had 0.35 (95% CI: 0.17 to 7.1) and 0.21 (0.09 to 0.46) times the odds of testing seropositive compared to persons assisting with calving/abortion in a seropositive farm, respectively. The study demonstrated that persons in direct contact with cattle and buffalo in the study area have high risk of exposure to Brucella spp. Control of the disease in livestock is likely to result in benefits to both animal and public health sectors.     

Livestock production and animal health in Sicily, Italy

In Sicily, as in other Mediterranean areas, livestock represents one of the most important resources for the island economy. This sector involves more than 16,000 farms of cattle and 10,000 farms of sheep and goats (respectively 6% and 15% of national production) which are actually increasing their number. Most livestock in Sicily is owned by small holders and pastoralists. Regional production of milk feeds some industries, which involve a large and increasing occupational area. Due to its peculiar geographic aspect Sicily is constituted by hill areas with sporadic grasses, therefore extensive grazing methods represent an ancient, traditional practice for using poor lands. For the control of infectious diseases Veterinary Services (VS) are based on the public regional network that is coordinated by the Ministry of Health in Rome. Even if Sicilian VS had to solve many constraints related to traditional "pastoral management system", to the lack of any sanitary background of this sector, to unknown data on the numbers of the whole livestock, the effort done in the last years has allowed to monitor for brucellosis, bovine leukemia virus (BLV), bovine TBC, swine vescicular disease (MVS) and other diseases for the majority of the farms. Tick-borne diseases (TBDs) still represent a serious impediment to the improvement of meat and milk production in the region. Every year, several outbreaks related to Theileria, Babesia or Anaplasma infections in cattle are recorded. Imported breeds pay the most expensive tribute often with a mortality rate of 100%. In the last five years more than 170 outbreaks of TBDs have been notified by our Institute although the pathogen prevalence and economical impact in the Sicilian livestock is still unknown. The outdoor grazing of the animals, far away from observation, a subclinical course of the disease, can in fact create difficulties in discovering infection and therefore the therapy is often too late. New diagnostic and control methods (PCR, vaccination) are being developed at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale of Sicily in cooperation with other national and international laboratories (such as the University of Utrecht).     

A historical synopsis of farm animal disease and public policy in twentieth century Britain

The diseases suffered by British livestock, and the ways in which they were perceived and managed by farmers, vets and the state, changed considerably over the course of the twentieth century. This paper documents and analyses these changes in relation to the development of public policy. It reveals that scientific knowledge and disease demographics cannot by themselves explain the shifting boundaries of state responsibility for animal health, the diseases targeted and the preferred modes of intervention. Policies were shaped also by concerns over food security and the public's health, the state of the national and livestock economy, the interests and expertise of the veterinary profession, and prevailing agricultural policy. This paper demonstrates how, by precipitating changes to farming and trading practices, public policy could sometimes actually undermine farm animal health. Animal disease can therefore be viewed both as a stimulus to, and a consequence of, twentieth century public policy.     

Gendered Homegardens: A Study in Three Mountain Areas of the Iberian Peninsula

Gendered Homegardens: A Study in Three Mountain Areas of the Iberian Peninsula. As an example of the importance of gender relations in the use of natural resources, several authors have analyzed the role of women in homegardens. Gendered differences in homegarden management have been difficult to disentangle due to the often–shared nature of gardening. Here, we use an innovative approach to analyze gendered differences in the characteristics and management of homegardens. Specifically, we use information on the prevalence of different household members in gardening activities to classify homegardens as women’s, men’s, or shared. Then, we compare several garden characteristics across the three types of homegardens. For the case study, we use data from homegardens in three rural areas of the Iberian Peninsula. We found that household members generally share homegarden responsibilities in these three regions and that many homegarden characteristics vary with the distribution of gardening tasks. Specifically, we discovered that gardens managed mainly by men were larger, more distant from the dwelling, and better exposed than gardens managed by women. Men and women also used different management techniques; organic fertilizers and traditional pest control management systems predominated in gardens managed by women. Men and women also differed in how they reportedly use garden products, with women favoring household consumption versus sale or gifting. Last, gardens managed mainly by women had a larger diversity of uses for species and a larger diversity of species per unit area. Cultural norms of what is considered appropriate behavior for men and women help explain differences in garden characteristics and their plant composition and structure.     

Livestock production,age, and gender among the Keiyo of Kenya

This article is based on a study of time allocation and decision making patterns among the Keiyo in three ecological zones of Elgeyo-Marakvet District, Kenya. It finds that age and gender are important factors to consider when examining livestock production among African smallholder farmers. This is especially true where males are absent from home for wage labor. In these situations women, young males between the ages of 6–15, and persons of both sexes aged 65 and over spend considerable amounts of time engaged in livestock-related activities. These women are also more actively involved in decision making concerning the marketing of milk. The results indicate that there is a definite need to consider the contributions of these other persons when efforts are being made to improve elements of the livestock sector.     

Awareness and Practices Relating to Zoonotic Diseases Among Smallholder Farmers in Nepal

Increasing livestock production to meet growing demands has resulted in greater interactions at the livestock–wildlife–human interface and more opportunities for zoonotic disease spread. Zoonoses impose enormous burdens on low-income countries like Nepal, where populations are largely dependent on livestock production and access to shared grazing lands, often near protected areas, due to population pressures. Several livestock-associated zoonoses have been reported in Nepal; however, little is known regarding Nepali farmers’ knowledge of zoonoses and opportunities for disease management. We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate Nepali farmers’ awareness of zoonoses, assess current health challenges, and evaluate disease prevention and control practices. We found that awareness of zoonotic pathogens was limited, especially in informally educated and illiterate farmers; the majority of which were women. Further, farmers’ preventive herd health, food safety, and sanitation practices were not associated with their awareness. Several farmers reported high-risk practices despite being aware of zoonotic diseases, suggesting a disconnect between the farmers’ awareness and practice. Our study highlights the need for improving Nepali farmers’ knowledge of zoonoses and disease prevention measures. Closing these awareness-practice gaps will require an improved understanding of risk and effective drivers of behavior change, alongside engagement of farmers in development of zoonotic disease prevention programs that encourage participation of both male and female farmers across all levels of education.