2014.ISDS.Abstracts.Final.pdf


ISDS Annual Conference Proceedings 2014. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-
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ISDS 2014 Conference Abstracts

Anthropology and Ecohealth Research in Control of 
Diseases for Pastorals in Tanzania

Peter E. Mangesho*1, 2, Esron Karimuribo1, 3, James E. Mlangwa3, Leonard E. Mboera4, 
Jonathan Rushton5, Richard Kock5, Angwara Kiwara6 and Mark Rweyemamu1

1Department of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro,, Southern African Center for 
Disease Infectious Surveillance, Morogoro, United Republic of Tanzania; 2National Institute for Medical Research- Amani Medical 
Research Center, Muheza, United Republic of Tanzania; 3Department of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health, Sokoine University 
of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania, Morogoro, United Republic of Tanzania; 4National Institute for Medical Research, Dar es Salaam, 
United Republic of Tanzania; 5Royal Veterinary College, University of London, London, United Kingdom; 6Muhimbili University of 
Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania

Objective
To collect and assess indigenous knowledge and practices to 

manage diseases of food security as well as create opportunities to 
disseminate results for improving self-help.

Introduction
The burdens of poverty and disease continue to affect the 

livelihoods of pastoralists in Tanzania. Their knowledge of seasons 
and the ecosystems has evolved over years to manage human and 
animal health problems, including food insecurity. But, both local 
and global factors are putting pressure on their knowledge base and 
their capacity to manage health issues, this conflict has not been 
adequately explored nor have the synergies between indigenous and 
exotic knowledge.

Methods
A situational analysis using focus group discussions, interviews 

and observations was employed to collect preliminary data on 
perceived human and animal disease syndromes with high impact on 
food insecurity.

Results
Preliminary findings show that the changing institutional setting of 

land management has a big impact on pastoralist’s capacity to address 
human and animal diseases. They had high knowledge on animal 
compared to human diseases. Pastoralists, for grounded reasons, still 
rely on herd maximization to abate poverty in the face of widespread 
diseases. Modern medical and veterinary systems exist but fail to 
well accommodate diseases amidst challenging terrains and prevalent 
poverty. Low knowledge on disease transmission mechanisms 
compel people to implement decisions relying on disease syndromic 
knowledge alone. Perceived risks to diseases and consequently health 
seeking options seem not to match disease control possibilities.

Conclusions
More disease focused ethnographic and socio-economic studies 

are still needed to further investigate the broader dynamics on how 
pastoralists and make decisions to identify and address health issues 
within their broader ecology 1).

Keywords
Health; Poverty; Pastoralism; Ecology; Tanzania

Acknowledgments

1. SACIDS
2. IDRC Canada Grant no. 107030-001 for funding this study.

References

[1] Young A.G. Current research on health among Tanzanian pastoralists, 
and future directions for improving pastoral health in East Africa. East 
Africa Journal of Research 1[1], 71-78. 2009.

*Peter E. Mangesho

E-mail: peter.mangesho@sacids.org    

Online Journal of Public Health Informatics * ISSN 1947-2579 * http://ojphi.org * (1):e146, 201