Title
Bolivia - integrated disease prevention for livestock, people and conservation
Author(s)
Alandia, E.;Uhart, M.;Terrazas, A.;Wallace, R.;Karesh, W. B.
Published
2012
Abstract
Domestic animal diseases have the potential to significantly affect wildlife populations and human livelihoods, either as a result of direct impacts on their health, or by decreasing the amount of game available for subsistence hunters. The closer the contact between domestic animals, wildlife and human populations, the bigger the risk of disease transmission becomes. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has a long-term partnership with the Takana communities of Bolivia, working in alliance with the Takana People's Indigenous Council to develop their capacity to sustainably manage their territory. The core of WCS's approach is to provide a framework for achieving governance, while offering support for community-based, sustainable, resource-management initiatives. These include a wildlife monitoring system which tracks sustainability of subsistence hunting, and a wildlife health programme focused on improving domestic animal health and husbandry. Fostering community-based sustainable natural-resource-management initiatives is also expected to reduce environmental impacts. The overall goal of this health programme is to engage local stakeholders and promote biodiversity conservation, focusing on key aspects of ecosystem health. The strategies are to: create capacity in animal husbandry and disease management; establish a surveillance network for domestic and wild animal diseases; set up husbandry records; establish communal veterinary pharmacies; provide on-site technical assistance for communal livestock-rearing projects, and identify and promote the use of native medicinal plants as alternatives to pharmaceuticals. After five years, positive outcomes include base-line information on domestic and wild animal diseases, improved health care for domestic animals, increased demand for training and medicinal plant studies, trained technicians carrying out treatments in their communities, and more readily available information on disease outbreaks in remote areas. Observed benefits for the wellbeing of indigenous peoples comprise steadily available sources of protein, diversification of income sources, a reduction in the prevalence of zoonotic diseases, and promotion of sustainable management of natural resources. This strong foundation now allows for the incorporation of these community-based programmes into national animal and public health strategies. The approach taken through this programme has highlighted the importance of empowering local stakeholders to identify and implement solutions that are easily adaptable to their culture and needs. It has also shown the benefits of applying a broad 'One Health' approach when addressing health issues at the wildlife/human/livestock interface, to ensure both disease prevention and conservation.
Keywords
Bolivia; community based surveillance; disease prevention; indigenous communities; one health; wildlife health
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PUB13291