Browsing by Author "Swai, E."

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How can we realise the full potential of animal health systems for delivering development and health outcomes?
(Europe PMC, 2021-08-21) Auty, Harriet; Davis, Alicia; Swai, E.; Virhia, Jennika; de Glanville, William; Kibona, Tito; Lankester, Felix; Shirima, Gabriel; Cleaveland, Sarah
Animal health services play an essential role in supporting livestock production, with the potential to address the challenges of hunger, poverty, health, social justice and environmental health as part of the path towards the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) defined in the United Nations, 2030 Agenda. However, the provision of animal health services remains chronically underfunded. Although the aspiration that â€˜no one will be left behind' is core to the SDG agenda, animal health service provision still fails to meet the basic needs of many of the poorest livestock owners. This review draws largely on experience from Tanzania and highlights the obstacles to equitable provision of animal health services, as well as identifying opportunities for improvement. Delivery models that rely on owners paying for services, whether through the private sector or public?private partnerships, can be effective for diseases that are of clear economic importance to animal keepers, particularly in more market-orientated production systems, but are currently constrained by issues of access, affordability, availability and quality. Substantial challenges remain when attempting to control diseases that exert a major burden on animal or human health but are less well recognised, as well as in the delivery of veterinary public health or other public good interventions. Here, the authors propose solutions that focus on: improving awareness of the potential for animal health services to address the SDGs, particularly those concerning public and environmental health; linking this more explicitly with advocacy for increased investment; ensuring that the voices of stakeholders are heard, particularly those of the rural poor; and embracing a cross-cutting and expanded vision for animal health services to support more adaptive development of livestock systems.
Street-level diplomacy and local enforcement for meat safety in northern Tanzania: knowledge, pragmatism and trust
(Springer Nature, 2019-07-03) Hrynick, T.; Barasa, V.; Benschop, J.; Cleaveland, S.; Crump, J.; Davis, M.; Mariki, B.; Mmbaga, B.; Mtui-Malamsha ,N.; Prinsen, G; Sharp, J.; Sindiyo, E.; Swai, E.; Thomas, K.; Zadoks, R; Waldman, L.
Background: With increasing demand for red meat in Tanzania comes heightened potential for zoonotic infections in animals and humans that disproportionately affect poor communities. A range of frontline government employees work to protect public health, providing services for people engaged in animal-based livelihoods (livestock owners and butchers), and enforcing meat safety and food premises standards. In contrast to literature which emphasises the inadequacy of extension support and food safety policy implementation in low- and middle-income countries, this paper foregrounds the ‘street-level diplomacy’ deployed by frontline actors operating in challenging contexts. Methods: This research is based on semi-structured interviews with 61 government employees, including livestock extension officers/meat inspectors and health officers, across 10 randomly-selected rural and urban wards. Results: Frontline actors combined formal and informal strategies, including the leveraging of formal policy texts and relationships with other state employees, remaining flexible and recognising that poverty constrained people’s ability to comply with health regulations. They emphasised the need to work with livestock keepers and butchers to build their knowledge to self-regulate and to work collaboratively to ensure meat safety. Remaining adaptive and being hesitant to act punitively unless absolutely necessary cultivated trust and positive relations, making those engaged in animal-based livelihoods more open to learning from and cooperating with extension officers and inspectors. This may result in higher levels of meat safety than might be the case if frontline actors stringently enforced regulations. Conclusion: The current tendency to view frontline actors’ partial enforcement of meat safety regulations as a failure obscures the creative and proactive ways in which they seek to ensure meat safety in a context of limited resources. Their application of ‘street-level diplomacy’ enables them to be sensitive to local socio-economic realities, to respect local social norms and expectations, and to build support for health safety interventions when necessary. More explicitly acknowledging the role of trust and positive state-society relations and the diplomatic skills deployed by frontline actors as a formal part of their inspection duties offers new perspectives a