Farmers’ Intentions to Implement Foot and Mouth Disease Control Measures in Ethiopia

The objectives of this study were to explore farmers’ intentions to implement foot and mouth disease (FMD) control in Ethiopia, and to identify perceptions about the disease and its control measures that influence these intentions using the Health Belief Model (HBM) framework. Data were collected using questionnaires from 293 farmers in three different production systems. The influence of perceptions on the intentions to implement control measures were analyzed using binary logistic regression. The effect of socio-demographic and husbandry variables on perceptions that were found to significantly influence the intentions were analyzed using ordinal logistic regression. Almost all farmers (99%) intended to implement FMD vaccination free of charge. The majority of farmers in the pastoral (94%) and market oriented (92%) systems also had the intention to implement vaccination with charge but only 42% of the crop-livestock mixed farmers had the intention to do so. Only 2% of pastoral and 18% of crop-livestock mixed farmers had the intention to implement herd isolation and animal movement restriction continuously. These proportions increased to 11% for pastoral and 50% for crop-livestock mixed farmers when the measure is applied only during an outbreak. The majority of farmers in the market oriented system (>80%) had the intention to implement herd isolation and animal movement restriction measure, both continuously and during an outbreak. Among the HBM perception constructs, perceived barrier was found to be the only significant predictor of the intention to implement vaccination. Perceived susceptibility, perceived benefit and perceived barrier were the significant predictors of the intention for herd isolation and animal movement restriction measure. In turn, the predicting perceived barrier on vaccination control varied significantly with the production system and the age of farmers. The significant HBM perception predictors on herd isolation and animal movement restriction control were significantly influenced only by the type of production system. The results of this study indicate that farmers’ intentions to apply FMD control measures are variable among production systems, an insight which is relevant in the development of future control programs. Promotion programs aimed at increasing farmers’ motivation to participate in FMD control by charged vaccination or animal movement restriction should give attention to the perceived barriers influencing the intentions to apply these measures.本研究旨在探索埃塞俄比亚农户实施口蹄疫（foot and mouth disease, FMD）防控的意愿，并基于健康信念模型（Health Belief Model, HBM）框架，识别影响该意愿的疾病认知及防控措施相关认知。研究采用问卷调查法，从三类不同生产系统的293户农户处收集数据。采用二元逻辑回归（binary logistic regression）分析认知因素对防控措施实施意愿的影响；针对显著影响意愿的认知变量，进一步采用有序逻辑回归（ordinal logistic regression）分析社会人口统计学特征与畜牧经营变量对其的作用。结果显示，几乎所有农户（99%）均愿意免费接种口蹄疫疫苗。游牧生产系统（94%）与市场导向型生产系统（92%）的多数农户也愿意付费接种疫苗，但农牧混合生产系统中仅42%的农户有此意愿。仅2%的游牧农户与18%的农牧混合农户愿意持续实施畜群隔离与动物移动限制措施；若仅在疫情暴发期间实施该措施，则游牧农户与农牧混合农户的意愿占比分别升至11%与50%。市场导向型生产系统的多数农户（>80%）愿意在持续及疫情暴发期间实施畜群隔离与动物移动限制措施。在健康信念模型的认知维度中，感知障碍是影响疫苗接种意愿的唯一显著预测因子；而感知易感性、感知收益与感知障碍则是影响畜群隔离与动物移动限制措施实施意愿的显著预测因子。进一步分析表明，生产系统类型与农户年龄会显著调节接种防控措施中感知障碍对意愿的预测效应；而畜群隔离与动物移动限制防控措施相关认知的预测效应仅受生产系统类型的显著影响。本研究结果表明，农户实施口蹄疫防控措施的意愿因生产系统而异，该结论可为未来防控方案的制定提供重要参考。针对通过付费接种或动物移动限制提升农户参与口蹄疫防控积极性的推广项目，应重点关注影响其实施意愿的感知障碍因素。