Knowledge and practices of rift valley fever prevention among refugee households keeping animals in the Basecamp of Nakivale Refugee Settlement, Uganda

Abstract

Introduction: Rift Valley Fever (RVF) is a mosquito borne viral zoonotic disease in Africa and the Arab world associated with outbreaks during heavy rains and prolonged flooding, a phenomenon that has been observed in areas around Lake Nakivale. Objective: This study assessed the knowledge, practices, and risk factors associated with RVF among refugee households keeping animals in the Basecamp of Nakivale refugee settlement. Methodology: A cross-sectional study design involving mixed data collection methods was conducted using a sample size of 424 refugee households keeping animals who were selected randomly by systematically skipping an interval of 5 households in the Basecamp of Nakivale refugee settlement in the period from 17th to 21st April, 2023. Data collected on socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge, and practices regarding RVF was entered into Microsoft excel, cleaned and exported to STATA version 16.0 for analysis. Descriptive statistics, bivariable and multivariable modified Poisson regression analysis was conducted to determine the factors associated with the outcome variables. Results: Of the 416 respondents 52.4%, (218) were males. The mean age was 44.8 ±1.0 years, and the biggest proportion, 42.8% (178) had no education at all. Many respondents 41.6% were livestock farmers, 75.5% were grazing on communal land, 47.4% practiced free-range system, and 50.2% had lived at the base camp for more than 10 years. Overall, there was poor knowledge and poor practices with; 33.1% had good knowledge of RVF while only 21.2% conducted good RVF preventive practices. The commonest RVF risky practice was eating meat from dead or sick animals (39%) and consuming milk from sick animals (12%) and the commonest source of RVF knowledge was veterinary consultation (56.8%) and listening to radio (40.3%). Conclusion and recommendations: The study stipulates the need to address the knowledge gap for RVF and the poor practices among most refugee in Basecamp of Nakivale refugee settlement lest they remain at higher risk of RVF attack in case of any outbreak in the animals they keep or trade in. These outbreaks can be effectively prevented and managed with collaborative efforts of the OPM, district health, veterinary department, the security, development partners and the refugee community with a shared risk perception that RVF is a serious threat to humans, animals and the environment.