Analytic and heuristic process for prudent antimicrobial use in animals: What are triggers and how do they work?

The over and misuse of antimicrobials in animal agriculture causes a prevailing crisis for humans, animals, and the environment. From the One Health approach perspective, the formation process of adopting prudent antimicrobial use (AMU), once established, can be used to mitigate this crisis. The study aimed to determine the analytic-based and heuristic-based process that evoked prudent AMU among animal farmers by synthesis of stimulus-organism-response framework and dual-system theory and to explore gender differences on risk-benefit trade-offs. A structural equation model was employed to test the proposed hypotheses with field survey data from 1100 small-scale farmers. The results reveal that for the analytic-based process, social influence, antimicrobial-related threats, and self-efficacy are all salient stimuli having indirect effects on intention via the two organisms of perceived risks and perceived benefits. For heuristic-based process, farmers' altruistic value orientations are positively associated with intention. An interesting fact is that threat awareness has two opposite effects on intention, namely, the suppression effect and the enhancement effect. Moreover, the negative effect of perceived risks on intention is greater among female farmers, compared to male counterparts. These findings provide valuable insights for the forming of theory-based intervention strategies to perfect China's national action plan.

Dynamic impacts of public health events on price fluctuations in broiler industry Chain in China: Evidence from COVID-19 epidemic.

Using weekly data from January 2020 to December 2021 on the prices of various links in the Chinese broiler industry chain and the COVID-19 epidemic, we employed a time-varying parametric vector auto-regressive (TVP-VAR) model to investigate the dynamic effects of public health events on price fluctuations of upstream, midstream, and downstream products in the Chinese broiler industry chain. Our findings showed that the COVID-19 epidemic had different effects on the prices of various broiler products, both in direction and magnitude, at different lags and time intervals. Chicken and live chicken prices were impacted the most, followed by broiler chick prices, while broiler feed prices were impacted the least. The epidemic constantly impacted broiler chick and chicken prices, while its effect on live chicken prices was initially negative but turned positive afterwards. Additionally, the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on broiler product prices consistently increased with more extended lag periods. The impulse responses at different epidemic time points were heterogeneous. With the results of this study, policy recommendations can be suggested to relevant government departments to optimize the prevention and control measures for public health emergencies and ensure price stability in the broiler industry.

What motivates food workers to adhere with WHO guidelines to combat the COVID-19? A social cognitive theory perspective.

Background: COVID-19 has become a public health emergency and pandemic of global concern, and the hundreds of millions of foodborne illnesses that occur each year also wreak havoc on human lives, society and the economy. Promoting workers in food service establishments to adhere to the hygiene practices in the WHO guidelines is a two-birds-one-stone strategy in preventing the spread of COVID-19 and limiting the occurrence of foodborne illness. The aim of this study was to determine the drivers that motivate workers to adhere to hygiene practices based on social cognitive theory. Methods: The cross-sectional survey targeting food workers using face-to-face interviews was conducted from July to September 2022. Stratified random sampling and convenience sampling were employed to locate survey sites and respondents, respectively. The survey uses a credible questionnaire evaluated by multiple reliability and validity measures. Binary logistic regression was employed to identify significant determinants of adherence to WHO-initiated hygiene practices. Results: A total of 900 workers were interviewed and 609 valid questionnaires were received. The study showed that the average correct rate of knowledge about hygiene practices was only 51.09%, that perceived non-adherence to hygiene practices was most likely to result in lower customer satisfaction and the spread of COVID-19, and that only about 11.7% of the workers always adhered to hygiene practices. Three of the cognitive dimensions in the personal factors, self-efficacy, risk perception, and knowledge, had significant positive effects on adherence practices. Among the demographic variables, there were significant differences in adherence practices differing by income level and place of residence. Conclusion: It was found that workers' knowledge of the WHO-initiated hygiene practices is insufficient and that the frequency of adherence to hygiene practices is poor and require improvement. The significant drivers and effects of demographic variables provide evidence-based guidance to identify priority intervention information and populations to improve worker hygiene practices.