Predicting vulnerability and improving resilience of the Maasai communities to vector-borne infections

An ecohealth approach in the Maasai Steppe ecosystem

Video to introduce the project

Why this project

Climate change and agricultural encroachment are leading to lifestyle changes for the Maasai. For example, communities are becoming more residential, or moving to areas where they interact with wildlife. This increases vulnerability to Human and Animal African trypanosomiasis.

The aim

To develop an ecohealth partnership on vector-borne disease control that encompasses local leadership, contemporary modeling and other approaches to enhance community resilience and to mitigate the impact of environmental change.

The research sites

The Maasai Steppe ecosystem in northern Tanzania.

Objectives

Objective 1

To downscale global climate models to the Maasai Steppe and predict current and future localised hotspots of infection

Objective 2a

To use land cover models to describe recent and predict future changes that influence the spatial variation in vector abundance and distribution, incorporate host availability and compare the spatial overlap with the climate models

Objective 2b

To trap tsetse flies on a monthly basis and use molecular techniques to identify species of trypanosome

Objective 3

To identify the opinion leaders and technology adopters in the Maasai community and then work with them to develop an ecohealth partnership on disease control that will reduce the impact of vector borne infections

Research approaches

Modeling temperature and precipitation patterns in East Africa
Modeling land-use and land cover
Vector distribution and infection prevalence measurements
Vector density and location predictions
Collecting confidential data on the views and responses of Maasai people to VBDs
Working with Maasai communities to raise awareness of risks, and develop adaptive strategies

Publications

Salekwa LP, Nnko HJ, Ngonyoka A, Estes AB, Agaba M, Gwakisa PS (2014) Relative abundance of tsetse fly species and their infection rates in Simanjiro, Northern Tanzania. Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 26, Article #213

Ngonyoka A, Gwakisa PS, Estes AB, Nnko HJ,5, Hudson PJ, Cattadori IM (2017) Variation of tsetse fly abundance in relation to habitat and host presence in the Maasai Steppe, Tanzania. Journal of Vector Ecology 42(1)

Nnko HJ, Ngonyoka A, Salekwa L, Estes AB, Hudson PJ, Gwakisa PS, Cattador IM (2017) Seasonal variation of tsetse fly species abundance and prevalence of trypanosomes in the Maasai Steppe, Tanzania. Journal of Vector Ecology 42(1)