Mortality as the primary constraint to enhancing nutritional and financial gains from poultry: A multi-year longitudinal study of smallholder farmers in western Kenya.

BACKGROUND: Chickens are a widely held economic and nutritional asset in rural Africa and are frequently managed by women. Despite potential benefits of larger flock sizes, the average number of chickens kept at the household level is reported to be low. Whether this reflects decision-making to maximize benefits per unit labor by voluntary reduction of chicken numbers by consumption or sale versus involuntary losses due to mortality is a significant gap in knowledge relevant to improving smallholder household welfare. METHODS: In a 4-year longitudinal study of 1,908 smallholder households in rural western Kenya, the number of chickens owned by quarterly census at each household was determined. Households reported gains and losses of chicken over the immediate previous quarter. Gains were classified as on-farm or off-farm; losses were classified as voluntary (sales, gifts, consumption) or involuntary (mortality, unclassified loss). RESULTS: The mean number of chickens owned over the 16 quarters was 10, consistent with prior cross-sectional data. Involuntary losses represented 70% of total off-take, while voluntary off-take represented the remaining 30%. Mortality composed 60% of total reported off-take and accounted for most of the involuntary losses. Household consumption, sales, and gifts represented 18%, 9%, and 3% of off-take, respectively. CONCLUSION: The overwhelming majority of off-take can be classified as involuntary off-take, principally due to mortality, that does not reflect the owner's decision to maximize value through nutritional gain, income, or social capital. This strongly suggests that there is substantial opportunity to enhance the value of chickens as an asset, both nutritional and income generating, for smallholder households living at poverty level. Our findings suggest that programs emphasizing community level poultry vaccination and feed supplementation are much more likely to be effective than those solely focused on providing chickens.

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.