[ Gold Award ]
JOVELYN M. CANTINA
Article ID: sjahss-1-11-3-15-23
Read more»
Pastoralists Health and Public Health Threat in Ghana
Keywords:
Pastoralists, Public Health, Zoonotic diseases, Sickness, VulnerabilityAbstract
Pastoralists move their livestock from pasture to pasture following traditional and historic patterns to move towards available forage for their livestock. The availability of pastures is influenced by the seasons and climate change that dictate the distance of movement of pastoralists; it could be cross-regional or cross-country movement. In a unique public health survey, a large sample of these pastoral nomads in Ghana were interviewed in eleven districts in Ghana. The data was collected mainly through interviews, case studies, and reviews of records of nomads in some selected health facilities. Several clear findings emerge including that: (a) these pastoralists have little engagement or trust with public health, (b) commonly engage the public health sector only as a last resort typically when diseases are in an advanced stage, (c) have a very low awareness of public health practices towards disease awareness, avoidance and treatment, (d) have poor access to public health services and (e) typically consume animals that are known to transmit zoonotic diseases from animals to humans. This means that this population is a relatively sick population and carries untreated diseases. In their engagement with the general populations, they would be expected to transmit these diseases to the general population and could be the source of new disease threats, such as, what emerged with COVID-19. It is encouraged that specific strategies be developed to engage this population to improve health conduct and behavior including sensitizing them to the dangers from contracting zoonotic diseases. While this study focuses only on pastoralists in Ghana, it is likely that other pastoral communities in Africa present similar public health challenges.
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
References
Abbass, M. I. (2014). No retreat, no surrender conflict for survival between Fulani pastoralists and farmers in Northern Nigeria. European Scientific Journal, 8(1), 331-346.
Abubakari A. (2022). The Integration and Adaptation of the Fulani in the West Mamprusi District of Northern Ghana. In Steve Tonah (ed) Farmer-Herder Relations in Ghana, Research and Publication Unit, Department of Sociology, University of Ghana Legon, 161- 184.
Abubakari A. and F. T. Y. Longi (2022). Border Controls and Cross-Border Movements of Fulani Herdsmen into the Upper East Region of Ghana: Implications for Security. In Steve Tonah (ed) Farmer-Herder Relations in Ghana. Research and Publication Unit, Department of Sociology, University of Ghana Legon, 144-160.
Adriansen, H. K. (2008). Understanding Pastoral Mobility: The Case of Senegalese Fulani. The Geographical Journal.174(3):207-222. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2008.00278.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4959.2008.00278.x
Alhassan, I. A. (2017). Land-Use Conflicts between Settler Farmers and Nomadic Fulani Herdsmen in the Kwahu North District, Ghana. Contemporary Journal of African Studies, 4(2),127-154. https://doi.org/10.4314/contjas.v4i2.5 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4314/contjas.v4i2.5
Amankwaa, O. (2019). Climate change and farmer-herder conflicts in the Asante Akim North District of Ghana. (Master's thesis, University of Oslo, Norway) Pp. 1-117.
Assal, M. (2009). The Relationship Between Nomadic and Sedentary People in Sudan. Nomadic Peoples. 13(1): 154-170. https://doi.org/10.3167/np.2009.130109 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3167/np.2009.130109
Awusabo-Asare, K. and John K (1997) Health-seeking behaviour of persons with HIV/AIDS in Ghana. Health Transition Review, Supplement to Volume 7: 243-256.
Baidoo, I. (2014). Farmer-Herder conflict: A case study of the Fulani herdsmen and farmers in the Agogo Traditional Area of the Ashanti Region. (Masters, thesis, University of Ghana, Legon.
Bailey, F. G. (2001). Treasons, stratagems, and spoils: How leaders make practical use of beliefs and values. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
Bassett J. T. (1994) Hired Herders and Herd Management in Fulani Pastoralism (Northern Côte d'Ivoire) (Bergers salariés et gestion du troupeau chez les éleveurs peuls du Nord de la Ĉote-d'Ivoire), Cahiers d'Études Africaines. 34:147- 173. https://doi.org/10.3406/cea.1994.2045 DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/cea.1994.2045
Blench, R. (2010). Conflict between Pastoralists and Cultivators in Nigeria: Review paper prepared for DFID, Nigeria. Retrieved from http:/www.rogerblench.info/development/pastoralist/Nigeria/pdf
Catley A., J. Lind and I. Scoones (2016). The futures of pastoralism in the Horn of Africa: pathways of growth and change. Rev. Sci. Tech. Off. Int. Epiz. 35 (2): 389-403. https://doi.org/10.20506/rst.35.2.2524 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20506/rst.35.2.2524
Dyer, C. (2001). Nomads and Education for All: Education for Development or Domestication? Comparative Education, 37(3): 315-327. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050060126693 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03050060126693
Dyson-Hudson R. and N. Dyson-Hudson (1980). Nomadic Pastoralism. Annual Review of ' Anthropology. 9:15-61. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.09.100180.000311 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.an.09.100180.000311
Dyson-Hudson, N. and R. Dyson-Hudson (1982). 'The Structure of East African Herds and the Future of East African Herders', Development and Change. 13:213-238. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.1982.tb00118.x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.1982.tb00118.x
Dzingirai V, Bukachi S, Leach M, Mangwanya L, Scoones I, and A. Wilkinson (2017) Structural drivers of vulnerability to zoonotic disease in Africa. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 372: 20160169. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0169 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2016.0169
Dzingirai V., B. Bett, S. Bukachi, E. Lawson, L. Mangwanya, I. Scoones, L. Waldman, A. Wilkinson, M. Leach and T. Winnebah (2016). Zoonotic diseases: who gets sick, and why? Explorations from Africa. Critical Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2016.1187260 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2016.1187260
El Shiekh B. and A. Kwaak (2015). Factors influencing the utilization of maternal health care services by nomads in Sudan. Pastoralism: Research, Policy and Practice. 5(23): 1-12 https://doi.org/10.1186/s13570-015-0041-x DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13570-015-0041-x
Ensor T, and Cooper S. (2004). Overcoming barriers to health service access: influencing the demand side. Health Policy Planning. 19: 69-79. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czh009 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czh009
Hagberg, S. (2000). Strangers, citizens, friends: Fulbe Agro-pastoralists in western Burkina Faso. In S. Hagberg & A. B. Tengan (Eds.), Bonds and boundaries in northern Ghana and southern Burkina Faso. (Pp.159-179), Uppsala: Department of Cultural Anthropology and Ethnology.
Honarvar, B., N. Odoomi, A. Rezaei, H. B. Haghighi, M. Karimi, A. Hosseini, S. Mazarei, M. Panahi, F. Jamshidi, M. Moghadami and K. B. Lankarani (2014). Pulmonary tuberculosis in migratory nomadic populations: the missing link in Iran's National Tuberculosis Programme. The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease. 18(3):272-276. https://doi.org/10.5588/ijtld.13.0650 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5588/ijtld.13.0650
Karesh W. B., A. Dobson, J. O. Lloyd-Smith, J. Lubroth, M. A. Dixon, M. Bennett, S. Aldrich, T. Harrington, P. Formenty, E. H. Loh, C.C. Machalaba, M. J. Thomas, and D. L. Heymann (2012). Ecology of zoonoses: natural and unnatural histories. Lancet. 380: 1936-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61678-X DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61678-X
Kronfol N.M (2012). Access and barriers to health care delivery in Arab countries: a review. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal. 18(12):1239- 1246. https://doi.org/10.26719/2012.18.12.1239 DOI: https://doi.org/10.26719/2012.18.12.1239
Liverani M., J. Waage, T. Barnett, D. U. Pfeiffer, J. Rushton, J. W. Rudge, M. E. Loevinsohn, I. Scoones, R. D. Smith, B.S. Cooper, L. J. White, S. Goh, P. Horby, B. Wren, O. Gundogdu, A. Woods, and R.J. Coker (2013). Understanding and Managing Zoonotic Risk in the New Livestock Industries. Environmental Health Perspectives. 121(8): 873-877. http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1206001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1206001
Lyimo E. A (2013). Maasai Mission in Tanzania: A Challenge to Pastoral Care. In Voices from Africa on Pastoral Care. Contributions in International Seminars ed by Contributions in International Seminars 1988-2008. (Eds) by Karl Federschmidt Klaus Temme Helmut Weiss. Düsseldorf.
Maru N., M. Nori, I. Scoones, G. Semplici, and A. Triandafyllidou (2022). Embracing uncertainty: rethinking migration policy through pastoralists' experiences. Comparative Migration Studies, 10 (1): 5 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-022-00277-1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-022-00277-1
McLeroy, K. R., Norton, B. L., Kegler, M. C., Burdine, J. N., & Sumaya, C. V. (2003). Community-based interventions. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 529-533. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.93.4.529 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.93.4.529
Montavon, A, Jean-Richard, V, Bechir, M, Daugla, DM, Abdoulaye, M, Bongo Naré, RN, Zinsstag, J. (2013). Health of mobile pastoralists in the Sahel - Assessment of 15 years of research and development. Tropical Medicine & International Health 18(9): 1044-52. https://doi.org/10.1111/tmi.12147 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/tmi.12147
Moritz, M. (2010). Understanding Herder-Farmer Conflicts in West Africa: Outline of a Processual Approach Human Organization, 69(2): 138-148. https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.69.2.aq85k02453w83363 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.69.2.aq85k02453w83363
Nassef, M., S Anderson and C. Hesse (2009). Pastoralism and climate change: Enabling adaptive capacity. Humanitarian Policy Group Report. Overseas Development Institute, Westminster Bridge Road London.
O'Donnell O. (2007). Access to health care in developing countries: breaking down demand side barriers. Cadernos de Sau ́de Pu ́blica. 23: 2820-34. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-311X2007001200003 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0102-311X2007001200003
Oksen, P. (2000). Cattle, Conflict, and Change: Animal Husbandry and Fulani-Farmer Interactions in Boulgou Province, Burkina Faso. Roskilde, Denmark: International Development Studies, Roskilde University.
Oppong, Y. P. A. (2002). Moving through and passing on: Fulani mobility, survival, and identity in Ghana. London: Transition Publishers.
Peters D.H, Garg A, and G. Bloom (2008). Poverty and access to health care in developing countries. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1136: 161-71. https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1425.011 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1425.011
Sallis, J. F., Owen, N., & Fisher, E. B. (2008). Ecological models of health behavior. In K. Glanz, B. K. Rimer, & K. Viswanath (Eds.), Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 465-486). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Schareika, N. (2010). Pulaaku in Action: Words at Work in Wodaabe Clan Politics. Ethnology, 49(3): 207-227.
Scoones I. (2021). Pastoralists and peasants: perspectives on agrarian change. The Journal of Peasant Studies, 48(1):1-47. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2020.1802249 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2020.1802249
Stokols, D. (1992). Establishing and maintaining healthy environments: Toward a social ecology of health promotion. American Psychologist, 47(1), 6-22. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.47.1.6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066X.47.1.6
Stokols, D. (1996). Translating social ecological theory into guidelines for community health promotion. American Journal of Health Promotion, 10, 282-298. https://doi.org/10.4278/0890-1171-10.4.282 DOI: https://doi.org/10.4278/0890-1171-10.4.282
Tasker, A. and I. Scoones (2022). High Reliability Knowledge Networks: Responding to Animal Diseases in a Pastoral Area of Northern Kenya, The Journal of Development Studies, 58:5, 968-988, https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2021.2013469 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00220388.2021.2013469
Tonah, S. (2005). The unholy alliance between chiefs and Fulani herdsmen in the middle Volta Basin. Ghana Social Science Journal, 2(1&2), 71-93.
Tonah, S. (2006). Managing farmer-herder conflicts in Ghana's Volta Basin. Ibadan. Journal of Social Sciences, 4(1), 35-42. https://doi.org/10.36108/ijss/6002.40.0130 DOI: https://doi.org/10.36108/ijss/6002.40.0130
Vogel, F. (1977). The Moving Target: Health Status of Nomadic Peoples. Economic Geography 53 (4): 421-428. https://doi.org/10.2307/142985 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/142985
WHO (2022). Female genital mutilation: key facts. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation
Published on: 19-08-2024
Also Available On
Note: Third-party indexing sometime takes time. Please wait one week or two for indexing. Validate this article's Schema Markup on Schema.org
How to Cite
Abubakari, A., & Derkyi, M. A. A. (2024). Pastoralists Health and Public Health Threat in Ghana. Sprin Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(8), 24–32. https://doi.org/10.55559/sjahss.v3i8.372
Issue
Section
Research Article
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Abdulai Abubakari, Mercy Afua Adutwumwaa Derkyi
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors contributing to this journal retain the copyright of their articles but agree to publish their articles under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, for any purpose, even commercially, under the condition that appropriate credit is given, that a link to the license is provided, and that they indicate if changes were made. They may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses them or their use.
