title: Past and Ongoing Tsetse and Animal Trypanosomiasis Control Operations in Five African Countries: A Systematic Review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Control operations targeting Animal African Trypanosomiasis and its primary vector, the tsetse, were covering approximately 128,000 km2 of Africa in 2001, which is a mere 1.3% of the tsetse infested area. Although extensive trypanosomiasis and tsetse (T&T) control operations have been running since the beginning of the 20th century, Animal African Trypanosomiasis is still a major constraint of livestock production in sub-Saharan Africa.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We performed a systematic review of the existing literature describing T&T control programmes conducted in a selection of five African countries, namely Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Uganda and Zambia, between 1980 and 2015. Sixty-eight documents were eventually selected from those identified by the database search. This was supplemented with information gathered through semi-structured interviews conducted with twelve key informants recruited in the study countries and selected based on their experience and knowledge of T&T control. The combined information from these two sources was used to describe the inputs, processes and outcomes from 23 major T&T control programmes implemented in the study countries. Although there were some data gaps, involvement of the target communities and sustainability of the control activities were identified as the two main issues faced by these programmes. Further, there was a lack of evaluation of these control programmes, as well as a lack of a standardised methodology to conduct such evaluations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Past experiences demonstrated that coordinated and sustained control activities require careful planning, and evidence of successes, failures and setbacks from past control programmes represent a mine of information. As there is a lack of evaluation of these programmes, these data have not been fully exploited for the design, analyses and justification of future control programmes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Production and Population Health, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0105-0926
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Production and Population Health, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Hannah R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Holt
authors.affiliation: Department of Vector Biology, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Selby
authors.affiliation: Department of Production and Population Health, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Javier
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guitian
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002050:Burkina Faso / Q000453:epidemiology; D002163:Cameroon / Q000453:epidemiology; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D007300:Insect Control / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends*; D014353:Trypanosomiasis, African / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000662:veterinary*; D014370:Tsetse Flies / Q000469:parasitology*; D014454:Uganda / Q000453:epidemiology; D015024:Zambia / Q000453:epidemiology