Better lives through livestock Impact of livestock vaccination in response to humanitarian crises in dryland pastoral areas – preliminary findings Wudu Temesgen Theo Knight-Jones, Edward Okoth, Fiona Tune, Michel Dione, Guy Ilboudo, Biruk Gemeda, Dagim Berhanu Buke Yussuf, Chris Daborn, Wudu Temesgen, Shauna Richards Jameel Observatory drylands food security and resilience early action research and evidence dialogue, Addis Ababa, 15-16 May 2025 2 Background •In Africa livestock are critical for livelihoods and nutrition – especially in the dryland pastoral systems • irrecoverable livestock losses can lead to long-term destitution and dependency on food aid •During crisis events livestock are at great risk • E.g. Drought, flooding, conflict…. •Horn of Africa drought (2019-23) resulted in >13million livestock deaths •=daily milk lost for 1.4million children (OCHA, 2023) 3 • Livestock interventions at these times are typically done by humanitarian agencies in collaboration with government, NGOs and private sector • Interventions include • Supplying feed, water • Destocking – Restocking • Provision of veterinary care o Including vaccination • Food aid, Cash transfers, loans, etc. Livestock Emergency interventions 4 Vaccination •vaccination is often done to reduce loss of livestock during crises But what is the impact? •USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance supported ILRI to assess and make recommendations •Previously Catley et al 2009 – found • Vaccination programmes had no effect on livestock mortality • But could be impactful and cost-effective with better planning and delivery • Problems included: Poor design, poor choice of vaccines, low coverage, poor dosing, storage and timing of vaccination 5 Objective - To assess the effectiveness and provide guidance for livestock vaccination during humanitarian crises - Approach 1. Literature review and expert validation workshop 2. Case studies: Considering a range of programmes in Africa with different implementers Work in progress • Retrospective approach visiting intervention sites about 3-4 months after vaccination Objective and approach Completed Studies Species Vaccination Ethiopia – 2 sites Pastoralist Agro-pastoralists SR, Cattle 9 diseases -PPR, Anthrax, LSD, NCD, CCPP, CBPP, Ovine Pasturellosis, Bovine Pasturellosis, SGP Kenya – 2 sites Pastoralist Agro-pastoralists SR, Cattle PPR, SGP, CCPP, LSD Burkina Faso SR CCPP, PPR 6 Case Study elements (qualitative and quantitative) Activity Sample size Details Key informant interview 3 livestock and humanitarian experts in implementation sites Implementor Focus Group Discussion 1 2 in a leadership role 6 in implementation role (2 private, 4 government) 2 in a financial role Livestock Keeper Focus Group 9-11 6 with men 5 with women 8 in vaccination villages 3 in non-vaccination villages Livestock Keeper individual interview 60-100 60 in vaccination villages 40 In non-vaccination villages Herd visual examination 10-20 herds subsets of the livestock keeper interviews 7 Field Study – Ethiopia Sites: Bene Tsemay pastoral district in South Ethiopia region Gode pastoral district in Somali region Bene Tsemay district in South Ethiopia • The crises - Recurrent drought from 2017 – 2023/2024 - Drought followed by flooding - Dessert locust 2019-2020 - Conflict – sometimes over grazing access – enhanced by drought 2008- 2010 EC 2011- 2013 EC 2013- 2015 EC Severe drought Mild drought Severe drought 8 South Ethiopia People - Lost their livestock and market value reduced - Shortage of food for the household (Starvation and child malnutrition) - Zoonotic disease outbreaks following crisis (anthrax) Livestock - Feed and water shortage - Productivity loss - Drought related mortality and morbidity (with sever impact on cattle and sheep) Environment - Deforestation (pastoralist cut trees for additional income (to make charcoal and firewood, and for animal feed) - Over grazing Social impact - Resource competition and conflict - Family dissolution - Increased crime Diverse Impacts 9 Gender impacts • Men migrated to other areas, abandoned families and married new wives • Women and children affected more by the drought, as men migrate • Children out of school, engaged in work and sometimes crime • Child malnutrition • Breastfeeding women most affected 10 The intervention • Cash transfer • Provision of household material like containers, bowls, soap • Provision of sanitary materials • Provision of Malaria net • Provision of food (oil and maize flour) • Food for work • Provision of breeding goats and chickens • Provision of feed seeds • Provision of animal feed • Veterinary drugs (Voucher based treatment) and vaccination 11 Impact of vaccination –livestock keepers' perspective - Most perceived that vaccination in response to drought was useful - Some thought vaccination during pick drought is damaging animals and preferred not to vaccinate - The vaccination comes late after the occurrence of drought - In some cases, vaccination was given together with other treatment measures and difficult to isolate the impact of vaccination - Quantitative data collected from vaccinated and unvaccinated herds, and before and after vaccination intervention waiting for analysis 12 Field study -Kenya Target regions: Isiolo, Nyeri, Wajir and Mandera Counties Crises : long draught that occurred between January 2021 and April 2023 other crises • Insecurity and conflict, Cattle rustling, Disease outbreaks, Locusts, Flooding 13 Impact of livestock vaccination on livelihoods and disease Pastoralist who benefited have realized the benefits of vaccination • Increase milk and meat production • Improved livestock health and body condition • Reduced expenditure on animal treatment • Reduced morbidities and mortalities • More money from sales of livestock • More food and improved nutrition for the household • Reduced incidence of abortions in the flock • Increased manure for sale • Able to pay school fees 14 Some challenges • Adverse effects associated with mixing of some vaccines • Maintenance of cold chain, requiring support from the private sector • Migration of animals during draught and floods making them inaccessible • Insecurity, especially during draught when communities compete for scares grazing and watering resources • Vaccination takes place in water points, and the watering is done in sequence, e.g. goats watered every 3 days. It is possible to miss the animals if planning not done properly. • Response is more reactionary rather than to respond when the emergency is about to or is in place. • Donor processes can take time before approval of funding and donors sometime come later after the emergency • Accessibility of certain location hinders delivery of vaccines • Herds often move from and to Ethiopia to Kenya and Somalia and this is makes difficult to track the vaccinated population 15 Early Observations - Methods • Collecting quantitative outcome measures is challenging due to recall, uncertainties about timing of events, seasonal changes and multiple interventions applied at the same time • Qualitative findings have shown who is affected and how and identified issues with vaccination delivery – useful but not enough and need to be supported by some quantitative data • Quantitative measure of overall household livelihood and food security impact of delivering vaccines would be important • Comparing dietary and monetary value of stock and outputs in intervention vs control herds • The use of mixed methods would provide a better picture of diverse impacts of the crises and diverse intended outcomes of the intervention. 16 Early Observations overall- Findings • Sometimes big delays between crisis and intervention • Better logistical preparedness would reduce delays • Crises forecasting is important for proper timing of vaccination • Overall coverage is often not tracked and herd immunity not considered • Post-vaccination monitoring is variable • Need to consider surveillance data and local disease priorities for the interventions • Vaccination timing is important (LK hesitant to vaccinate during time feed shortage) • Need for informed vaccination calendars and creating awareness for LK • When properly done livestock vaccination could help reducing impact of livestock crises 17 Caveat – These are early Observations, not conclusions… Slide 1: Impact of livestock vaccination in response to humanitarian crises in dryland pastoral areas – preliminary findings Slide 2: Background Slide 3: Livestock Emergency interventions Slide 4: Vaccination Slide 5: Objective and approach Slide 6: Case Study elements (qualitative and quantitative) Slide 7: Field Study – Ethiopia Slide 8: South Ethiopia Slide 9: Gender impacts Slide 10: The intervention Slide 11: Impact of vaccination –livestock keepers' perspective Slide 12: Field study -Kenya Slide 13 Slide 14: Some challenges Slide 15: Early Observations - Methods Slide 16: Early Observations overall- Findings Slide 17: Caveat – These are early Observations, not conclusions…