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Factors influencing usage of antimicrobial drugs among pastoralists in Kenya

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Abstract

Agricultural use of antimicrobials in food animal production may contribute to the global emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). However, considerable gaps exist in research on the use of antimicrobial drugs (AMDs) in food animals in small-scale production systems in low- and middle-income countries, despite the minimal regulation of antimicrobials in such regions. The aim of this study was to identify factors that may influence AMD use in livestock among pastoral communities in Kenya. We collected data related to household and herd demographics, herd health, and herd management from 55 households in the Maasai Mara ecosystem, Kenya, between 2018 and 2019. We used multi-model logistic regression inference (supervised machine learning) to ascertain trends in AMD use within these households. AMD use in cattle was significantly associated with AMD use in sheep and goats (p = 0.05), implying that decisions regarding AMD use in cattle or sheep and goats were interdependent. AMD use in sheep and goats was negatively associated with vaccination against the foot and mouth disease (FMD) virus in cattle (OR = 0.06, 95% CI 0.01–0.67, p = 0.02). Less AMD use was observed for vaccine-preventable diseases like contagious ecthyma when households had access to state veterinarians (OR = 0.06, p = 0.05, 95% CI 0.004–0.96). Overall, decisions to use AMDs were associated with vaccine usage, occurrence of respiratory diseases, and access to animal health advice. This hypothesis-generating study suggests that applying community-centric methods may be necessary to understand the use of AMDs in pastoral communities.

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Data availability

Due to the sensitive nature of the household identifying data collected during the survey and associated confidentiality agreements, the data used here is not public but can be made available upon reasonable request to the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the Maasai Mara community, Kenya Wildlife Service staff at the KWS Mara Research Centre, and Narok County Government. We would specifically like to appreciate James Lempoiyo and Joel Dukuny for their assistance in the field.

Funding

The funding for this project was provided through the Faculty Grant Research Program from the Healthy Foods Healthy Lives Institute of the University of Minnesota, grant number 18SFR-2YR100KV.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Ilya Slizovskiy and Dennis N. Makau contributed equally in this manuscript as first authors.

  2. Kimberly VanderWaal and George P. Omondi contributed equally in this manuscript as senior/last authors.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Veterinary Population Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA

    Dennis N. Makau, Ilya Slizovskiy, Noelle R. Noyes, Dominic Travis, Kimberly VanderWaal & George P. Omondi

  2. Wildlife Research and Training Institute, Naivasha, Kenya

    Vincent Obanda

  3. VA Health Care System and Department of Medicine, Minneapolis , University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA

    James R. Johnson

  4. Case Western University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Michael Oakes

  5. The Marine Mammal Centre, Sausalito, CA, USA

    Dominic Travis

  6. Ahadi Veterinary Resource Center, P. O. Box 51002, Nairobi, 00200, Kenya

    George P. Omondi

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  1. Dennis N. Makau
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Contributions

DNM and IS led data entry and cleaning and data analysis and manuscript preparation. VO, KVW, and GPO designed data collection tools and organized and led field data collection and collation. KVW, GPO, NRN, JRJ, MO, and DT conceptualized the study and sought for funding for the fieldwork. All authors contributed to the writing and reviewing of the manuscript and preparation for submission for journal publication.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dennis N. Makau.

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Ethics approval

This study was approved by the University of Minnesota’s Institutional Review Board (Protocol ID: 180736093A) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, State Department of Livestock, Office of the Director of Veterinary Services, Kenya (MOALF/SDL/DVS/RES/GEN/005).

The University of Minnesota IRB (STUDY00000837), Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS/BRM/5001), and the Narok County government (NCG/HEALTH/GEN/VOL.1/2) also authorized this study. Participants’ consent was recorded verbally and in writing.

Consent to participate

All respondents voluntarily participated in the study and signed a consent form after being informed about the study’s objective.

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All respondents who agreed to participate in the study were informed and agreed that the results of the study would be published in scientific journals in line with the confidentiality agreements.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Makau, D.N., Slizovskiy, I., Obanda, V. et al. Factors influencing usage of antimicrobial drugs among pastoralists in Kenya. Trop Anim Health Prod 54, 332 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11250-022-03326-0

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