Towards a bottom-up understanding of antimicrobial use and resistance on the farm: A knowledge, attitudes, and practices survey across livestock systems in five African countries

Abstract

The nutritional and economic potentials of livestock systems are compromised by the emergence and spread of antimicrobial resistance. A major driver of resistance is the misuse and abuse of antimicrobial drugs. The likelihood of misuse may be elevated in low- and middle-income countries where limited professional veterinary services and inadequately controlled access to drugs are assumed to promote non-prudent practices (e.g., self-administration of drugs). The extent of these practices, as well as the knowledge and attitudes motivating them, are largely unknown within most agricultural communities in low- and middle-income countries. The main objective of this study was to document dimensions of knowledge, attitudes and practices related to antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance in livestock systems and identify the livelihood factors associated with these dimensions. A mixed-methods ethnographic approach was used to survey households keeping layers in Ghana (N = 110) and Kenya (N = 76), pastoralists keeping cattle, sheep, and goats in Tanzania (N = 195), and broiler farmers in Zambia (N = 198), and Zimbabwe (N = 298). Across countries, we find that it is individuals who live or work at the farm who draw upon their knowledge and experiences to make decisions regarding antimicrobial use and related practices. Input from animal health professionals is rare and antimicrobials are sourced at local, privately owned agrovet drug shops. We also find that knowledge, attitudes, and particularly practices significantly varied across countries, with poultry farmers holding more knowledge, desirable attitudes, and prudent practices compared to pastoralist households. Multivariate models showed that variation in knowledge, attitudes and practices is related to several factors, including gender, disease dynamics on the farm, and source of animal health information. Study results emphasize that interventions to limit antimicrobial resistance should be founded upon a bottom-up understanding of antimicrobial use at the farm-level given limited input from animal health professionals and under-resourced regulatory capacities within most low- and middle-income countries. Establishing this bottom-up understanding across cultures and production systems will inform the development and implementation of the behavioral change interventions to combat antimicrobial resistance globally.

Fig 1. Live animals per veterinarian for project countries compared with high income countries.

Data obtained from WAHIS and FAO-STAT.

Fig 2. Project map.

Surveyed countries are highlighted in red. Insets of country maps include country capitals, approximate study area (denoted in red circle), icons for production system surveyed (broiler, layer, pastoralist), and associated sample sizes below. See map legend for description of map markers. Maps were created using ArcGIS software by Esri. The base map is sourced from Esri and modified in ArGIS Pro. "Light Gray Canvas" [basemap] https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=ee8678f599f64ec0a8ffbfd5c429c896. May 13th, 2019.

Fig 3. The reasons farmers reported using antimicrobials in livestock across project countries.

Fig 4. Sources of advice on animal health.

N = 867 except for advice from feed distributor, which was not asked in Tanzania given the Maasai do not purchase feed for their livestock and is based on 672 observations.

Fig 5. People administering antimicrobials to livestock.

N = 867 except for farm manager which is based on 672 observations (Maasai generally do not have farm managers).

Fig 6. The distribution of scores on antimicrobial use and AMR knowledge, attitudes, and practices scales across project countries.

The y-axis is the percentage of respondents having a certain score. The score (percentage correct) is represented on the x-axis.