title: Using local language syndromic terminology in participatory epidemiology: Lessons for One Health practitioners among the Maasai of Ngorongoro, Tanzania.
abstract: Pastoralists and agro-pastoralists often occupy remote and hostile environments, which lack infrastructure and capacity in human and veterinary healthcare and disease surveillance systems. Participatory epidemiology (PE) and Participatory Disease Surveillance (PDS) are particularly useful in situations of resource scarcity, where conventional diagnostics and surveillance data of disease prevalence may be intermittent or limited. Livestock keepers, when participating in PE studies about health issues, commonly use their local language terms, which are often syndromic and descriptive in nature. Practitioners of PE recommend confirmation of their findings with triangulation including biomedical diagnostic techniques. However, the latter is not practiced in all studies, usually due to time, financial or logistical constraints. A cross sectional study was undertaken with the Maasai of Ngorongoro District, Tanzania. It aimed to identify the terms used to describe the infectious diseases of livestock and humans with the greatest perceived impact on livelihoods. Furthermore, it aimed to characterise the usefulness and limitations of relying on local terminology when conducting PE studies in which diagnoses were not confirmed. Semi-structured interviews were held with 23 small groups, totalling 117 community members within five villages across the district. In addition, informal discussions and field observations were conducted with village elders, district veterinary and medical officers, meat inspectors and livestock field officers. For human conditions including zoonoses, several biomedical terms are now part of the common language. Conversely, livestock conditions are described using local Maasai terms, usually associated with the signs observed by the livestock keeper. Several of these descriptive, syndromic terms are used inconsistently and showed temporal and spatial variations. This study highlights the complexity and ambiguity which may exist in local terminology when used in PE studies. It emphases the need for further analysis of such findings, including laboratory diagnosis where possible to improve specificity before incorporating them into PDS or disease control interventions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Production and Population Health, Royal Veterinary College, University of London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Pathology and Pathogen Biology, Royal Veterinary College, University of London, London, United Kingdom. Electronic address: kqueenan3@rvc.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Queenan
authors.affiliation: Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania; National Institute for Medical Research, Amani Medical Research Centre, Muheza, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mangesho
authors.affiliation: Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania; Department of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Moses
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ole-Neselle
authors.affiliation: Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania; Department of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Esron
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Karimuribo
authors.affiliation: Southern African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania; Department of Veterinary Medicine and Public Health, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rweyemamu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Pathogen Biology, Royal Veterinary College, University of London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kock
authors.affiliation: Department of Production and Population Health, Royal Veterinary College, University of London, London, United Kingdom; Leverhulme Centre for Integrative Research on Agriculture and Health (LCIRAH) Royal Veterinary College, University of London, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Häsler
mesh_terms: D000822:Animal Husbandry / Q000379:methods; D000818:Animals; D003140:Communicable Disease Control / Q000379:methods; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission / Q000662:veterinary; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D058751:Livestock; D008297:Male; D012418:Ruminants; D018571:Sentinel Surveillance / Q000662:veterinary; D013636:Tanzania / Q000453:epidemiology; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D018634:Veterinarians; D015047:Zoonoses / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission
keywords: Biomedical diagnoses; Local terminology; Maasai; Participatory epidemiology; Syndromic