Urban and peri-urban agriculture and its zoonotic risks in Kampala, Uganda
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Date
25/11/2009Author
Makita, Kohei
Metadata
Abstract
In developing countries, cities are rapidly expanding, and urban and peri-urban
agriculture (UPA) has an important role in feeding a growing urban population.
However, UPA carries risks of zoonotic disease transmission. This study aims to
understand the characteristics of UPA in Kampala, Uganda and the zoonotic risks to
humans.
Following a general overview of the subject in Chapter 1, Chapter 2 describes the
determination of urban, peri-urban and rural areas of the Kampala economic zone
and socio-economical characteristics of the peri-urban interface compared with the
urban and rural counter parts using the Village Characteristic Survey in 87 randomly
selected Local Councils (LC1s). Chapter 3 describes the characteristics of UPA in
Kampala and found both the contribution of agriculture to the livelihood and risks of
zoonoses were high.
In Chapter 4, the most important zoonotic diseases affecting populations living in
urban and peri-urban areas in Kampala were identified; brucellosis, GI infections,
Mycobacterium bovis tuberculosis and Taenia solium cycticercosis based on
investigations using the medical records of Mulago National Referral Hospital.
Chapter 5 describes a series of case-control studies of the identified most important
zoonoses using a spatial approach. The risks of identified zoonoses might be
homogenously high at all levels of urbanicity. Brucellosis appeared to be the most
significant disease.
Chapter 6 investigates brucellosis further, with an epidemiological investigation into
the prevalence of the disease in milking cows and a quantitative analysis of the level
of infection in milk for sale in and around Kampala. The prevalence was 6.2%
(95%CI: 2.7-9.8) at the herd level. Chapter 7 describes the risk analysis for purchase
raw milk infected with Brucella abortus in urban areas of Kampala. A quantitative
milk distribution model was developed synthesizing the results from the cattle survey
and interviews with milk sellers. The infection rates of milk at sale obtained from
milk testing and cattle survey were multiplied to this model to present distribution of
the risk. 11.7% of total milk consumed in urban Kampala was infected when
purchased and the risk management analysis found the most effective control option
for human brucellosis was construction of milk boiling centres either in Mbarara, the
largest dairy production area in Uganda, or in peri-urban areas of Kampala.