Pillars for successful operationalization of one health as an ecosystem approach: experience from a human-animal interface in the Maasai steppe in Tanzania.

Background: Solving complex public health challenges requires integrated approaches to health, such as One Health. A key element of the One Health approach is the interrelationship between human, animal and environmental health and the associated multistakeholder collaboration across many cultural, disciplinary, institutional and sectoral boundaries. Here we describe a pragmatic approach for One Health operationalisation basing on our long-term engagement with communities faced with health challenges in a human-livestock-wildlife interface in the Maasai steppe in northern Tanzania.

Potential impacts of climate change on geographical distribution of three primary vectors of African Trypanosomiasis in Tanzania's Maasai Steppe: G. m. morsitans, G. pallidipes and G. swynnertoni.

In the Maasai Steppe, public health and economy are threatened by African Trypanosomiasis, a debilitating and fatal disease to livestock (African Animal Trypanosomiasis -AAT) and humans (Human African Trypanosomiasis-HAT), if not treated. The tsetse fly is the primary vector for both HAT and AAT and climate is an important predictor of their occurrence and the parasites they carry. While understanding tsetse fly distribution is essential for informing vector and disease control strategies, existing distribution maps are old and were based on coarse spatial resolution data, consequently, inaccurately representing vector and disease dynamics necessary to design and implement fit-for-purpose mitigation strategies.

Pastoralists' Vulnerability to Trypanosomiasis in Maasai Steppe.

Trypanosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease of both livestock and humans. Although pastoral communities of the Maasai Steppe have been able to adapt to trypanosomiasis in the past, their traditional strategies are now constrained by changes in climate and land regimes that affect their ability to move with their herds and continually shape the communities' vulnerability to trypanosomiasis. Despite these constraints, information on communities' vulnerability and adaptive capacity to trypanosomiasis is limited.

Molecular prevalence of trypanosome infections in cattle and tsetse flies in the Maasai Steppe, northern Tanzania.

Background: African trypanosomosis is a disease of public health and economic importance that poses a major threat to the livelihoods of people living in the Maasai Steppe, where there is a significant interaction between people, livestock and wildlife. The vulnerability of the Maasai people to the disease is enhanced by the interaction of their cattle, which act as vehicles for trypanosomes, and tsetse flies close to wildlife in protected areas. This study was aimed at identification of trypanosome infections circulating in cattle and tsetse flies in order to understand their distribution and prevalence in livestock/wildlife interface areas in the Maasai Steppe.

Patterns of tsetse abundance and trypanosome infection rates among habitats of surveyed villages in Maasai steppe of northern Tanzania.

Background: Changes of land cover modify the characteristics of habitat, host-vector interaction and consequently infection rates of disease causing agents. In this paper, we report variations in tsetse distribution patterns, abundance and infection rates in relation to habitat types and age in the Maasai Steppe of northern Tanzania. In Africa, Tsetse-transmitted trypanosomiasis negatively impacted human life where about 40 million people are at risk of contracting the disease with dramatic socio-economical consequences, for instance, loss of livestock, animal productivity, and manpower.

Seasonal variation of tsetse fly species abundance and prevalence of trypanosomes in the Maasai Steppe, Tanzania.

Tsetse flies, the vectors of trypanosomiasis, represent a threat to public health and economy in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite these concerns, information on temporal and spatial dynamics of tsetse and trypanosomes remain limited and may be a reason that control strategies are less effective. The current study assessed the temporal variation of the relative abundance of tsetse fly species and trypanosome prevalence in relation to climate in the Maasai Steppe of Tanzania in 2014-2015.

Variation of tsetse fly abundance in relation to habitat and host presence in the Maasai Steppe, Tanzania.

Human activities modify ecosystem structure and function and can also alter the vital rates of vectors and thus the risk of infection with vector-borne diseases. In the Maasai Steppe ecosystem of northern Tanzania, local communities depend on livestock and suitable pasture that is shared with wildlife, which can increase tsetse abundance and the risk of trypanosomiasis. We monitored the monthly tsetse fly abundance adjacent to Tarangire National Park in 2014-2015 using geo-referenced, baited epsilon traps.