Presentation by Dr Neil Anderson of the University of Edinburgh at the One Health for the Real World: zoonoses, ecosystems and wellbeing symposium, London 17-18 March 2016

1. Tsetse, Trypanosomiasis and
Communities in Transition:
Investigations into Health, Wellbeing and
Ecosystem Change in the Luangwa
Valley, Zambia

2. The Zambia Study Team
Noreen Machila, Neil Anderson, Simon Alderton, Joanna Kuleszo,
Kathrin Schaten, Martin Simuunza, Ewan MacLeod, Alexandra Shaw,
Peter Atkinson, Susan Welburn

3. Trypanosomiasis and Tsetse
• Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense – human sleeping sickness (rHAT)
Photo: Wolburg H, et al. (2012) PLoS ONE 7(3): e34304
Image © Neil Anderson
Image © Neil Anderson
Image © Neil Anderson

4. Luangwa Valley, Zambia
• Four national parks
– Photographic safaris
• Game Management Areas
– Commercial safari hunting
– Agricultural activities
– Relatively low human density
– Historical lack of livestock keeping
– Consistent land-use patterns
Image © Neil Anderson
Anderson et al., 2015

5. A New Disease Interface?
• Problem statement
– Area of historically low human population density
– Influx of people and new settlements
– Increase in livestock population
– Land-use and land cover change
– How has this affected disease transmission?
Image © Neil Anderson
Image © Neil AndersonNew interfaces most at risk of epidemics (van den Bossche, 2001)
Image © Neil Anderson

6. Household & Animal Census
• Conducted in 2013
• Official census figures for Mambwe District:
1990 ~ 60,000
2010 ~ 70,000
Number
Households 3717
People 17656
Cattle 3169
Goats 5679
Pigs 3106
Dogs 2960

7. Structured and Semi-Structured Interviews
• 28 key informant interviews
• 9 focus group discussions: 256 attendants
• 19 participatory mapping sessions and transect walks
• Structured questionnaires: 211 households
Image © Noreen Machila
Image © Neil Anderson

8. Investigations into the Tsetse Vector
• Field surveys in June and Nov 2013
– Low apparent density
– Predominantly Glossina morsitans morsitans
June November

9. Epidemiological Survey of Livestock and
Humans
• Epidemiological surveys from 2005 (Mubanga, 2008) and 2013 (DDDAC)
• Decline in trypanosome prevalence
• No human-infective T. brucei rhodesiense detected
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Cattle Sheep Goats Pigs
Prevalence(%)
2005 2013

10. Migration
• 62% of people reported moving location
– 37% within Mambwe District
– 17% from other parts of Zambia’s Eastern Province
– 8% from further field

11. Year
Study area
Mambwe
District
1000 ha % 1000 ha %
1990 10 12 20 3
2000 14 16 26 4
2013 27 31 55 10
Change in the area occupied by agriculture
Image © Joanna Kuleszo

12. • 85% of households grow cotton
• One third of households do not have enough food / variety
• Access to water and quality of water is bad
• Still, overall life satisfaction is high in the area
Household well-being questionnaires
Image © Neil Anderson
211 household questionnaires
Health status sheets for 1012
people, 1276 animals

13. Conclusions
• Landcover change significant
– Particularly towards plateau
• Migration patterns complex
– Much is over relatively short distances
• Trypanosomiasis prevalence has reduced
– Size of domestic animal reservoir has increased
– Tsetse density low
• Local communities have little access to veterinary or human health
services
Image © Neil Anderson

14. Acknowledgements
Gloria Mulenga,
John Mashili,
James Sikasindu,
Milner Mukumbwali,
David Sqaurre,
John Silutongwe,
Catherine Grant,
Crawford Revie,
Michael Thrusfield,
Vupenyu Dzingirai,
William Shereni,
Amon Murwira
DDDAC Consortium
Image © Jessica Groengendijk
Joseph Mubanga

15. This work, Dynamic Drivers of Disease in Africa Consortium, NERC project number
NE-J001570-1, was funded with support from the Ecosystem Services for Poverty Alleviation (ESPA)
programme. The ESPA programme is funded by the Department for International Development (DFID), the
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).