A new publication from GBADs, written by Girma Birhan Asteraye, Gemma Chaters, Ruth Jobling, Gina Pinchbeck, Anne Meyer, Andrew Larkins, Theodore Knight-Jones, Wudu T. Jemberu, and Jonathan Rushton, titled “Economic assessment of burden of animal diseases in donkeys in Ethiopia” is now available here

Abstract: 

Working donkeys play a crucial role in Ethiopia’s household and agricultural economies but they carry a massive, neglected burden of disease. There is currently limited understanding of the size and scale of this burden. This study aimed to quantify the burden of disease in working donkeys in Ethiopia using the Animal Health Loss Envelope (AHLE) metric. The AHLE measures all cause disease burden by estimating the gap between actual production and potential output in an ideal, animal disease-free scenario. An enterprise budget analysis was conducted under two health scenarios (current and ideal) using a stochastic dynamic population model which captures income generated, expenditure and losses. The difference between the enterprise budget from the current and ideal scenarios represents the AHLE. The models were parameterised using data from household surveys, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, expert elicitation, and secondary data from the literature. The total AHLE was estimated at USD 116 (95% PI: 96–142) per average donkey owning household per year which equates to 28% of an average households potential income from donkeys. When extrapolated across the national herd of 10.2 million donkeys this equates to an estimated absolute loss of USD 646 million (95% PI: 566–739). Morbidity losses constituted the largest component of the AHLE, exceeding 70% across all production systems (commercial, domestic agricultural and domestic pastoral) and in contrast spending on animal health contributed the smallest portion of the AHLE (0.8–2.1% across the three systems). External and non-infectious causes imposed the highest proportion of health-related losses, contributing significantly to production losses. Lameness, modelled separately as an example of attributing part of the AHLE to a specific disease, accounted for 12.8% of the total AHLE in the commercial system (USD 8 million). These estimates provide evidence to inform policies and interventions aimed at improving donkey health and welfare to the benefit of communities reliant on these animals.

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