Over the past decade decision-makers have been increasingly aware that tsetse-transmitted trypanosomiasis should be considered not only as a disease directly impacting human and animal health, but also as a problem that profoundly affects African agriculture and the livelihood of rural populations. The presence of the disease influences where people decide to live, how they manage their livestock and the extension and intensification of crop and livestock agriculture integration. It thus becomes clear that the only way to achieve sustainable development results in disease-affected areas is by addressing the tsetse and trypanosomiasis (T&T) problem from a multidisciplinary perspective and in the context of improved and sustainable rural development, and not merely as a human and animal health problem alone.
In 1997 the Programme Against African Trypanosomiasis (PAAT) was created. PAAT is a forum, comprising the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the African Union (formerly the Organization of African Unity)/Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU/IBAR) and other international, regional and national stakeholders. It seeks to assist in the development and implementation of international policies, strategies and guiding principles for integrated multidisciplinary intervention approaches.[1]
More recently, in 2000 at Lomé, Togo, and in 2001 at Lusaka, Zambia, decisions were made by the African Heads of State and Government confirming the political will to control and eventually eradicate tsetse flies from the African continent. These decisions clearly claim African ownership and responsibility for the elimination of this African problem (OAU, 2002). As a follow-up, AU formally launched the Pan-African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign (PATTEC) in October 2001 during the 26th meeting of the International Scientific Council for Trypanosomiasis Research and Control (ISCTRC), held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. PATTEC’s major challenge ahead is to mobilize the necessary human, financial and material resources to achieve eventually the elimination of the tsetse fly from Africa.
During a workshop held in Rome in May 2002, PAAT and PATTEC harmonized their views on, inter alia, the concept of area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM). A set of criteria/ guidelines for selection of priority areas and joint international action for T&T intervention was agreed. Additionally, two earlier identified areas were validated against these criteria and sequential steps in project implementation were defined (FAO, 2002). The first project area is located in the Ethiopian Southern Rift Valley system and the other area in the common Burkina Faso-Mali “cotton belt” zone in West Africa.
The AW-IPM concept, based on data-driven decision-making, has profited greatly from the development of geographical information systems (GIS) - tools that allow the spatial analysis of data in a multidisciplinary manner. In addition to the establishment of countrywide multidisciplinary databases (e.g. PAAT-Information System [PAAT-IS], Gilbert et al., 2001), results obtained in West (de la Rocque, 1997; Hendrickx, 1999), East (Erkelens et al., 2000) and southern Africa (Doran and Van den Bossche, 2000; Robinson, 1998; Robinson et al., 2002) during the 1990s have greatly contributed towards the implementation of an AW-IPM approach for T&T intervention programmes.
The aim of this paper is to collate, analyse and discuss available information with a view to:
comprehend better the forces driving integrated livestock- agricultural development in West Africa;
understand how trypanosomiasis impacts livestock-agricultural production systems; and
elaborate on options for integration of landscape dynamics and related fly habitat change with strategies for T&T interventions with the scope of planning field livestock-agricultural development programmes.
| [1] PAAT Web site, http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/en/paat/home.html |
