by Mahendra Pal, Tesfaye Rebuma, Motuma Regassa, Chala Gutema and Alessandra Mazzeo
Original Research
Rabies is the most lethal viral zoonosis, with bats as reservoirs, causing fatal encephalomyelitis in humans and terrestrial mammals across various categories, including pets, livestock, stray animals, and wildlife. Rabies spans natural, rural, and urban areas, primarily affecting marginalized communities in low-income countries and posing a threat to food security and livelihoods. In Ethiopia, where dog-mediated human rabies is endemic, it is considered a prioritized zoonotic disease addressed through ongoing efforts, including parental dog vaccination initiatives. These efforts are supported by various global and international organizations. The One Health approach emphasizes the need to intensify these actions to resolve the persistent issue of a large population of stray dogs possibly interacting with wild animals and bats. Urgent experimentation is essential for the development of new protective vaccines against the bat-associated rabies viruses present in Ethiopia. These viruses can infect dogs vaccinated with the currently available vaccine. Additionally, adopting Oral Rabies Vaccination for stray and guard dogs in urban and rural areas, respectively, could be crucial. Oral Rabies Vaccination, already successfully implemented in Europe for wildlife (foxes), establishes a natural barrier of vaccinated animals effectively protecting the territory from the entry of rabid wild animals, as vaccinated animals can preside over the territory without being infected.
American Journal of Public Health Research. 2024, 12(2), 22-32. DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-12-2-2
Pub. Date: April 27, 2024
by Begna Dugassa
Original Research
Background: Climate change is exacerbating social problems and creating new challenges. It limits self-sufficient societies from feeding their families and intensifies competition for limited resources. Like infectious diseases, violence is predictable, preventable, and contagious. We can apply public health methods to predict and prevent violence. Methods: Applying Abraham Maslow's theory of hierarchy of needs and motivation, primary and secondary data are collected and analyzed if climate change causes deficits in physiological needs (i.e., food, water, shelter, clothing, comfort, sleep, and procreation), safety and security needs, and social needs/belonging and contribute to violent motives. Objectives: The primary objective of this paper is to explore if climate change aggravates the deficits in physiological needs (i.e., food, water, shelter, clothing, comfort, sleep, and procreation), safety and security needs, as well as social/belonging needs and instigate the motives to violence. The secondary objective is to provide a public health thinking framework, foster people's capacity to think and act at the "upstream level," and advance violence prevention. Findings: In the Horn of Africa (HA), climate change widens deficits in physiological and security needs. Those deficits enlarge necessities for social needs and intensify competition for resources. The violence resulting from climate change is contagious, predictable, preventable, and has an incubation period. Conclusions: Climate change is one of the root causes of violence in the HA. Thinking "upstream level" and envisioning prevention strategies can reduce and prevent violence.
American Journal of Public Health Research. 2024, 12(2), 8-21. DOI: 10.12691/ajphr-12-2-1
Pub. Date: April 14, 2024