Derrick Noah Sentamu

Introduction: Irrational use of antibiotics in livestock and human, especially in low- and middle-income countries poses public health threat. Despite the extensive use of antibiotics in dairy farms in Eritrea, so far there is no published report on use of antibiotics and other related health challenges. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was undertaken between July to October, 2023 to assess the dairy farmers’ knowledge, attitude and practice regarding antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance through face-to-face interviews using semi-structured questionnaires. Results: All dairy farmers 246 (100%) reported using antibiotics, yet 160 (65%) could not identify which infections antibiotics are intended to treat, and 151 (61.4%) had no knowledge of antibiotic resistance. Majority of dairy farmers 207 (84.1%) kept no treatment records, and 144 (58.5%) did not observe withdrawal periods for antibiotics before milk consumption. Overall, 209 (89%), 196 (79.7%) and 200 (81.3%) of the farmers possess inadequate knowledge, unfavorable attitude, and poor practice, respectively. Dairy farmers in Maekel region had favorable attitudes (OR = 3.8, p = 0.037), while farmers in Debub (OR = 13, p = 0.022) and Maekel (OR = 14, p = 0.018) regions showed better practices than Anseba region. And, university educated respondents showed markedly better practices (OR = 35.4, p = 0.002) on antibiotic usage as compared to non-graduates. Conclusion: The low level of farmer’s Knowledge, attitude and practice in our study underscore the need for a tailored intervention to improve the awareness of farmers on antibiotic use and resistance in order to mitigate the public health risk.

Leishmaniasis is an endemic zoonotic disease caused by the protozoan parasite Leishmania and transmitted by infected female phlebotomine sandflies. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies it among the 20 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), ranking eighth globally. The disease predominantly affects resource-limited populations in tropical regions. Kenya bears a significant global burden of leishmaniasis, with Baringo County identified as a major endemic area. A cross-sectional survey on knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) was conducted from July 2025 to January 2026 among 135 residents of Baringo South Sub-County using a structured questionnaire. The study evaluated sociodemographic characteristics, disease awareness, perceptions, preventive practices, and treatment-seeking behaviors. Additionally, 12 healthcare professionals were interviewed regarding their diagnostic and treatment capacities. Associations between variables were analyzed using Chi-square tests and multivariate logistic regression. Overall awareness of leishmaniasis was high (94.8%), with KAP scores of 86.7%, 76%, and 77.7%, respectively. Despite this, critical knowledge gaps persisted regarding transmission dynamics, the role of dogs as reservoir hosts, and preventive measures. Significant associations were found for awareness of local cases, recognition of clinical signs, knowledge of vector activity, community control measures, and attitudes toward treatment preferences. Age and education level predicted KAP outcomes. Healthcare practitioners demonstrated technical capacity to diagnose and treat human Leishmania infections, whereas veterinarians lacked awareness of Leishmania infection in dogs, including its diagnosis and treatment. Integration of human, animal, and vector surveillance within a One Health framework is recommended to enhance disease monitoring and control in Baringo County.

Leishmaniasis is an endemic zoonotic disease caused by protozoan parasite Leishmania and transmitted through bites of infected female phlebotomine sandflies. It is listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the 20 neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), ranking ninth globally. The disease affects resource-poor populations in tropical regions. Kenya is one of the endemic countries with the highest global burden of leishmaniasis with Baringo County being a major endemic focus. A cross-sectional KAP survey was conducted between July 2025 and January 2026 among 135 residents of Baringo South Sub-County using a structured questionnaire. The study assessed sociodemographic characteristics, awareness of the disease, perception, preventive practices. The perception of the residents on treatment-seeking behaviors was evaluated regarding leishmaniasis in Baringo County. About 12 healthcare professionals were also interviewed regarding their diagnostic and treatment capacity of healthcare provision in the region. Associations between variables were examined using multivariate logistic regressions. The overall awareness of leishmaniasis was high (94.8%) with Knowledge, attitudes, and practices scores as 86.7%, 76%, and 77.7% respectively. However, critical knowledge gaps on transmission dynamics, the role of role of dogs as reservoir hosts and preventive practices remained incomplete. Significant associations were observed for awareness of local cases, recognition of clinical signs, knowledge of vector activity, community control measures and attitude towards treatment preferences. Age and education levels were predictors of KAP. Health care practitioners demonstrated technical diagnostic and treatment capacity of human Leishmania infections while the veterinarians were not aware of the leishmania infection in dogs and its diagnoses and treatment. Therefore, the integration of human, animal, and vector surveillance within a One Health framework is essential to strengthen disease monitoring and control.

Background: Livestock disease surveillance is important in early detection and control of diseases. In resource constrained settings, passive surveillance is predominately used, a system that relies heavily on the community to share information on livestock disease events for eventual response by relevant stakeholders. This study aimed to understand pastoralists’ utilization and reasons considered when choosing methods or stakeholders for reporting or responding to livestock disease occurrences in herds. Methods: The study was conducted in Marsabit county in Northern Kenya with pastoralists. Between August 2023 to August 2024, data was collected using participatory epidemiology tools including pairwise ranking and matrix scoring to profile the stakeholders and utilization of different methods with the respective reasons considered when choosing these for livestock disease reporting or response. Summary statistics from the output were presented in tables and graphs while the Kendall’s coefficient of concordance was used to show the level of agreement among various pastoralist groups/raters. Results: The disease reporting systems in Marsabit were most influenced by livestock owners (median rank = 9), friends and traditional healers (median rank = 7) and Elders’ council and Private AHWs (median rank = 6). Disease reporting was primarily through mobile phones (median rank = 4) with their usage increasing markedly between 2001 and 2024. Livestock disease response was most frequently offered by livestock owners, friends, and agrovets/private practitioners, with median ranks of 9, 7 and 6, respectively. The response to disease events in herds was mostly by pastoralists themselves, using synthetic drugs (median = 8) and this practice had increased overtime from before the 1980s to 2024. The pastoralists’ decisions to report a disease event were largely influenced by accessibility of the stakeholder or method of reporting, perceived technical knowledge of recipient, cost friendliness and affordability of the services, while ability to provide quick response, credit facilities for services, having technical knowledge and affordability were important reasons for their choice of the process of disease response. Conclusions: This study highlights the central role livestock owners’ play in disease reporting and response in underserved pastoralist areas of northern Kenya, with a limited role played by government animal health services providers. The results suggest that veterinary services delivery systems should be reviewed with input from community stakeholders to improve surveillance and disease reporting. This integration would enhance livestock disease surveillance and protect pastoralists’ livelihoods.

Introduction: Livestock are central to pastoral livelihoods. A major constraint in pastoral production is livestock diseases, which is often exacerbated by inadequate surveillance systems. Reporting of disease outbreaks from pastoral communities to animal health workers is one of the challenges that affects effective and timely response to disease outbreaks. This study aimed to understand animal disease reporting and response in pastoral areas of Northern Kenya. Stakeholders, their roles, information flow among them and methods used for both livestock disease reporting and response and their strengths and challenges were identified.Methods: The study was carried out in Marsabit County, a pastoral county in Kenya. Pretested tools were used to guide data collection through Focus Group Discussions, Narrative and Key Informant Interviews with pastoralists, County government Animal Health Workers, agrovets and private animal health workers, Community Disease Reporters, Chiefs, County Public Health Officers and local Non-Governmental Organization staff. Net mapping was further used where participants drew links among the various stakeholders and assigned them perceived influence and power. Output from thematic analysis, notes taken during data collection and net maps were used to produce a network of stakeholders and their links using Gephi software. Centrality measures were generated and recorded. Perceived power and influence scores were used to produce a graph and the reasons for the scores documented. Methods used for livestock disease reporting and response were obtained from thematic analysis.Results: A network of 19 stakeholders with 67 links among them was identified. Major stakeholders were the Animal Owners/Pastoralists, Government Animal Health Workers, County Director of Veterinary Services, the Chief and radio based on network indices of Total degree and Betweenness Centrality, and also based on perceived scores of influence and power. Pastoralists had pivotal roles in both livestock disease reporting and response, Government Animal Health Workers (GAHWs) were mainly involved in disease surveillance and mass interventions including treatment and vaccinations. Non-state actors like NGOs and iNGOs collaborated and supported the County Government with resources to manage outbreaks. Various methods were used for reporting diseases, with use of mobile phones highly mentioned while for response to disease occurrences, the methods included trainings and treatment by both Government and Private AHWs and use of alternative veterinary practices by pastoralists. Various challenges constraining livestock disease response were highlighted, the most frequent challenges centered around low numbers and under resourcing of Animal Health Workers.Conclusion: These findings show that designing an efficient livestock disease surveillance system in pastoral areas requires recognition and utilization of all stakeholders and understanding of their roles. Gaps highlighted in disease response should be prioritized by the government and its development partners for improved animal health service delivery in pastoral areas. These inadequacies in livestock disease response have a direct effect on veterinary practice as mandated by the Government of Kenya Veterinary Surgeons and Para-professionals Act. The results are important for guiding policy formulation to support mitigation of disease impacts in similar areas with limited access to quality veterinary services.

Toxoplasma gondii is a ubiquitous protozoan parasite of public health concern, with severe health consequences among immunocompromised individuals and pregnant mothers. Pigs are intermediate hosts of this zoonotic parasite and consumption of undercooked pork is a risk factor for T. gondii infection. We investigated the seroprevalence and risk factors for T. gondii in pigs in Kenya. A cross-sectional study was conducted at a non-integrated abattoir in Kiambu, Kenya, where 446 blood samples were collected from slaughtered pigs between 5 January and 5 March 2021. For each pig sampled, additional data were collected on the county of origin, farm size, sex and live weight. Serum was harvested from each pig blood sample, and these were subjected to indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay tests to detect the presence of immunoglobin G (IgG) for T. gondii infection. The overall seroprevalence for T. gondii was 34.53% (95% C.I. 30.16–39.17). Risk factors for T. gondii seropositivity in pigs included farm size (p < 0.001) and the live weight of pigs (p = 0.044). The high seroprevalence of T. gondii indicates that consumers of raw and undercooked pork may be at a high risk of infection. It is therefore recommended that strategies for the mitigation of risk of exposure in populations should prioritize public health education for pig farmers, pork handlers and consumers on risk reduction measures along the pork value chains.

The human population is growing and urbanising. These factors are driving the demand for animal-sourced proteins. The rising demand is favouring livestock intensification, a process that frequently relies on antibiotics for growth promotion, treatment and prevention of diseases. Antibiotic use in livestock production requires strict adherence to the recommended withdrawal periods. In Kenya, the risk of residues in meat is particularly high due to lack of legislation requiring testing for antibiotic residues in meat destined for the local market. We examined pig carcasses for gross pathological lesions and collected pork samples for antibiotic residue testing. Our aim was to determine if a risk-based approach to residue surveillance may be adopted by looking for an association between lesions and presence of residues. In total, 387 pork samples were tested for antibiotic residues using the Premi^®Test micro-inhibition kit. The prevalence of antibiotic residues was 41.26% (95% CI, 34.53–48.45%). A logistic regression model found no significant associations between gross pathological lesions and the presence of antibiotic residues. We recommend that the regulating authorities strongly consider routine testing of carcasses for antibiotic residues to protect meat consumers. Future studies should research on farming practices contributing to the high prevalence of residues.

Pre-slaughter handling of pigs has been documented to affect the quality of meat though no studies have investigated this relationship in the Kenyan context. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of gross lesions and practices related to sub-optimal welfare in pigs presented for slaughter while analyzing the relationship between occurrence of these lesions and meat quality. A cross-sectional study was conducted at a medium scale, non-integrated pig abattoir supplying to the Nairobi market, with a capacity to slaughter approximately 40 pigs a day. Data on welfare-associated lesions and handling practices were obtained from 529 pig carcasses and traders respectively. 387 pork samples were collected, and their quality evaluated by measuring their pH, meat color and drip loss. These three parameters were used to classify pork into four recognized categories namely: Red, Firm, Non-exudative (RFN), Pale Soft Exudative (PSE), Dark Firm Dry (DFD) and Red Soft Exudative (RSE). Almost all pigs were inefficiently stunned as evidenced by the presence of consciousness post-stunning. The majority of pigs (82.97%) having one or more welfare-associated gross lesions. Other animal welfare malpractices observed were high loading density and inadequate rest periods between transport and slaughter. A quarter of the pork samples were of sub-optimal quality including: RSE (11.36%), PSE (2.58%) and DFD (2.58%). Multinomial logistic regression revealed that pork originating from pigs transported at a high loading density had increased odds of being classified as DFD (OR 13.41, 95% CI 2.59–69.46). The findings indicate the need to educate stakeholders in the pork value chains on improved pig handling before and during slaughter to enhance pig welfare pre-slaughter and pork quality post-slaughter. Animal welfare legislation enforcement and implementation was observed to be insufficient. There is a need to educate key stakeholders on its importance of being put into practice both from economic and welfare perspectives.