Unable to put beef and fish on the table, Africa courts animal-spread diseases

• Over 60 per cent of estimated 1,415 infectious diseases known to modern medicine are capable of infecting both animals and humans
• Livestock agriculture is the most important industry across sub-Saharan Africa, and disease is its biggest enemy.

A large-scale epidemic of Avian Influenza could happen in Africa if the virus changes so that human to human transmission occurs, say experts. If it does millions of people could die as a result. In fact, some observers predict that such an epidemic could be just as devastating to the continent as the rinderpest epidemic was back in the 1890s and the HIV and Aids epidemic of today.

For starters, surveillance systems in Africa are notoriously weak and are unable to detect early H5N1 outbreaks in poultry or wild birds.

Control remains difficult because of the continent’s ineffective border controls, overtaxed health-care systems and inadequate biosecurity. Furthermore, the crowding of poultry farms and the blossoming of live poultry markets promote the rapid spread of the disease, as do high-risk conditions and practices like the slaughter of sick birds in homes.

The result of such an epidemic would have devastating socio-economic consequences. For example, African women might be particularly at risk. Epidemiological studies have shown that there is a higher likelihood of the transmission of Avian Influenza from poultry to humans through contact with infected poultry.

As poultry in Africa is predominately managed by women, they may have a higher incidence of contracting H5N1 with the possibility of them passing it on to their children were the virus ever to make the big leap form bird to human transmission to human-to-human transmission.

An epidemic outbreak of H5N1 could also lead to widespread micronutrient deficiencies, say experts. Even small reductions in meat and egg consumption can lead to large reductions of micronutrient intake. Therefore, there may be negative impacts on nutrition of people at risk such as children, women and people living with HIV and Aids.

Against such a background, the International Food and Policy Research Institute in cooperation with the International Livestock Research Institute is assisting developing regions to protect their economic livelihood in case of an H5N1 epidemic outbreak. In May a $7.8 million (Sh560 million) project was launched to assist poor farmers in developing countries to protect their livelihoods in the event of an avian flu outbreak.

Research is being conducted in Ethiopia, Indonesia, Kenya, Mali, and Nigeria, where experts will identify strategies, such as farmer compensation schemes, that can both control the disease and protect poor households from losing critical sources of income.

The consequences for failed infectious disease control and eradication programs in Africa and elsewhere are alarming. Mark E.J Woolhouse and Sonya Gowtage-Sequeria of the Centre for Infectious Diseases, University of Edinburgh cite the failure of public health programs as one of the 10 drivers associated with the emergence and re-emergence of human pathogens.

CURTIS ABRAHAM writes on development and internal affairs from Kampala