Project: "Poultry Farming, the trade network and Newcastle's Disease in Antananarivo"
DESMV, Mahaliana Labs, and the Princeton Environmental Institute are working together on this project.
Antananarivo is a growing city of more than two million inhabitants. Poultry farming flourishes informally across the city, providing food security and an income stream for many households. Yet, devastating poultry diseases affect the livelihood of farmers, and the potential of known mitigation strategies remains uncharacterized. Understanding poultry farming practices and the trade networks in unregulated systems can inform policy decisions concerning disease prevention and containment.
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The three core aims to be addressed in this study include:
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1.) Characterize the distribution and attributes of poultry farming in Antananarivo.
Objective 1: Locate the distribution of farms and live bird markets across Tana. Objective 2: Identify characteristics of poultry farms using semi-structured interviews. Objective 3: Characterize poultry trade networks through interviews of farmers and vendors.
2.) Identify pathogen distribution across the city.
Objective 1: Test samples across poultry species from farms for ND.
Objective 2: Characterize and map hotspots of disease concentration.
Objective 3: Characterize changes in distribution of the disease across two years.
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3.) Explore the cost/benefit of interventions for Newcastle's Disease.
Objective 1: Characterize the spatial and temporal variation in vaccination coverage and costs. Objective 2: Calculate vaccination rates required to achieve herd immunity.
The 5 DESMV and 5 Princeton interns will design and conduct surveys as well as map both poultry farm and trade networks in Antananarivo. Surveys include questions on costs, benefits, vaccination practices, and seasonality and demography of poultry farming practices. Biological samples will also be collected throughout the study and analyzed at Mahaliana.
