Impact of bovine tuberculosis on socio-economic status of livestock farmers in selected parts of Zambia

Introduction: Bovine Tuberculosis (bTB) is a significant zoonotic disease that affects the human population and livestock globally. In Zambia, bTB poses substantial economic and social challenges to livestock farmers. Aim: The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of Bovine Tuberculosis on the social-economic status of livestock farmers. Methodology: The study was qualitative and quantitative in nature and concurrent triangulation design guided the study. The study had 280 participants who were selected through heterogeneous purposive sampling. The production of data was through semi-structured interviews, structured questionnaires, and document analysis. Quantitative data analysis was performed in R software, while qualitative data was analyzed using Nvivo® and content analysis. Findings: The results revealed that there was a significantly high impact of bTB on monthly income (p< 0.001, OR = 0.99, CI = 0.997-0.998). For every 0.99 odds of a decrease in monthly income, the impact from bTB increased, an indication of a reduction of monthly income resulting from the high impact of bTB. Our results also indicated that for every one-unit increase in monthly income, the log of the odds associated with low milk production decreased by 3.38. Therefore, the more income generated from milk sales the lesser milk production incurred. The results revealed that there was a significantly high impact of bTB on monthly income (p< 0.001, OR = 0.99, CI = 0.997-0.998). For every 0.99 odds of a decrease in monthly income, the impact from bTB increased, an indication of a reduction of monthly income resulting from the high impact of bTB. Further, participants were faced with carcass contamination at abattoirs. They suggested that the government working together with other stakeholders should initiate an insurance scheme to cover livestock. However, the contributions should be minimal. Finally, participants reported having experienced social-economic discriminatory statutes, as they were not rendered eligible to be part of cooperatives where they would borrow money for empowerment (surety) due to losing of source of income (animal) at an abattoir