Household Economic Losses and Community Knowledge Determine Control Strategies: A Case of Cerebral Coenurosis in Small Ruminants in Northern Tanzania

Abstract

Cerebral coenurosis affects sheep and goats worldwide and has zoonotic implications. Information on the financial burden and understanding of the disease and control practices may inform control strategies. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Babati and Ngorongoro Districts, Tanzania, to determine economic losses, farmers’ knowledge, and attitudes and practices on the control of coenurosis in small ruminants. A structured questionnaire was administered to 558 households for data collection. The total annual loss was TZS 122.8 M (USD 52.9 K) for Babati and TZS 656.5 M (USD 282.9 K) for Ngorongoro District. The average annual household financial loss was TZS 356.8 K (USD 153.83) for Babati and TZS 3.1 M (USD 1.3 K) for Ngorongoro District. Almost 90% of respondents were aware of coenurosis while less than 1% of the respondents had no knowledge of it at all. The average knowledge score was 5.85 out of 16 (36.6%), which implies a low level of knowledge on coenurosis. About 94% of respondents showed a willingness to participate and pay the control costs. Given the economic loss and favorable attitudes toward control participation, delivery of an educational package on epidemiology and control of coenurosis to livestock keepers may trigger collaborative and sustainable intervention.

1. Introduction

In many African societies, small ruminants contribute much to family wealth as they have the ability to reproduce quickly and can survive on poor pastures [1]. Cerebral coenurosis is among the major health problems of sheep and goats, causing a neurological syndrome with clinical signs varying from circling to “madness” [2,3]. The disease is worldwide in distribution but it occurs more in developing countries due to poor disease control strategies [4]. It is caused by the coenurus metacestode stage of Taenia multiceps frequently referred to as Coenurus cerebralis. The adult stage of this tapeworm is found in the small intestine of domestic and wild canids. Sheep and goats acquire infection through ingestion of pasture contaminated with infected canids faeces [5]. In the small intestine of an intermediate host, the egg hatches to release oncosphere, which travels via the bloodstream to reach the CNS, where it encysts and develops into mature coenuri 7–8 months post-infection and reaches its final size of 5–6 cm in diameter [6]. The life cycle is complete when the definitive host ingests raw or undercooked offal containing coenuri with mature protoscoleces. Clinically, cerebral coenurosis could be presented as an acute or chronic phase. Acute coenurosis occurs as a result of the migration of oncospheres in the central nervous system (CNS) when a susceptible host, particularly lambs and kids, happens to ingest a large number of viable eggs of T. multiceps. The clinical signs for the acute phase are transient pyrexia, relatively mild neurological signs such as listlessness, and a slight head aversion. Occasionally the signs are more severe and the animal may develop encephalitis, convulse, and die within 4–5 days [7]. The chronic stage is due to the development of a coenurus, or coenuri, and has a variety of neurological symptoms such as the affected animal tilting its head to one side and turning in a circle toward the cyst’s location, ataxia, incoordination, drowsiness, paralysis, muscle weakness, head compression, blindness, poor appetite, seizures, and coma [8]. The majority of infected animals die of starvation within a few weeks.

There are also case reports of human infection with T. multiceps metacestodes causing serious illness and even death to patients suffering from this disease [9,10].

In Europe, the disease has been reported in various countries like Greece [11], Italy, Ireland, Wales, and the United Kingdom [2]. In the Middle East, the disease has been reported in Iran [5], Jordan [12], and Oman [13]. In Africa, coenurosis in sheep and goats has been reported in many countries including Ethiopia [4], Mozambique [14], and Kenya [4]. In Tanzania, cerebral coenurosis in small ruminants is said to be endemic as suggested by published reports from Ngorongoro, Longido, Monduli, and Iringa [15,16,17]. The most effective means of controlling coenurosis could be achieved through regular deworming of dogs with an effective taeniacide (i.e., praziquantel at 5 mg/kg body weight) at 6- to 8-week intervals and the proper disposal of sheep carcasses to prevent scavenging by herding and stray dogs [7].

Cerebral coenurosis causes economic losses due to the prolonged ill-health of animals, condemnation of organs, low reproductivity, and death to sheep and goats [18]. For instance, the financial loss reported at the Bishoftu Elfora export abattoir in Ethiopia in 2017 due to Coenurus cerebralis was estimated to be USD 18 K [19], whereas Legahida District of Ethiopia lost USD 24 K due to the death of animals, market price depression, treatment cost, and poor carcass weight in 2014 [20]. However, studies like these usually quantify the financial losses at the abattoir level and do not estimate the actual financial losses at the household or flock level. One abattoir survey conducted in Ngorongoro District, northern Tanzania, revealed that 44.4% of heads of sheep and goats examined had cerebral coenurosis and were condemned [21] and a prevalence study in Longido and Monduli reported that 11–34% of sheep and goats were suffering from cerebral coenurosis [15,22]. These are examples of financial losses in the small ruminant industry that are not concisely quantified and reported and there is a need for estimation of the financial losses to small ruminant keepers due to cerebral coenurosis at the household level so as to inform the stakeholder of the magnitude of the problem in monetary terms and motivate them toward control. However, the development of an effective participatory cerebral coenurosis control plan requires field information about the knowledge and attitude of the farmers on the disease and what practices are conducted that may affect the presence of the disease. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the annual household financial losses and knowledge and the attitudes and practices of pastoral communities on the control of cerebral coenurosis.

2. Results

2.1. Respondents’ Socio-Demographic and Flock Characteristics

The majority of respondents (404/558; 72.4%) in the present study were heads of households while the remaining proportion (154/558; 27.6%) comprised other family members. The age of respondents ranged between 13 and 96 years with a mean age of approximately 44 ± 14.3 years for Babati and 37.3 ± 13.7 for Ngorongoro. The majority of respondents (353/558; 63.3%) were between 31 and 60 years of age and the age category with the smallest proportion of respondents (56/558; 10.0%) was above 60 years old. More than two-thirds of the respondents were males (397/558; 71.1%). The majority of the respondents (383/558; 68.6) in the study area had completed primary education (Table S1). The vast majority of households in both Babati (341/344; 99.1%) and Ngorongoro (189/214; 88.3%) were agro-pastoralists while the remainder were pastoralists. In Babati, the largest sheep flock size was 150, with an average flock of 17 sheep, and the largest goat flock was 170, with an average flock of 12 goats. In Ngorongoro, the largest sheep flock size was 600, with an average flock of 86 sheep, and the largest goat flock was 400, with an average size of 56. The great majority of the respondents (455/588; 81.5%) had mixed flocks of sheep and goats (Table S1).

2.2. Financial Losses Due to Coenurosis in Babati and Ngorongoro Districts

In Babati, the farmers attributed 771 goat and 580 sheep deaths to coenurosis. A further 414 goats and 294 sheep were said to be affected by coenurosis and of these, 186 goats and 96 sheep were said to have reduced weight gain. Finally, 397 goat heads and 287 sheep heads were condemned to slaughter owing to coenurosis.

According to respondents in Babati District, the market price of healthy adult goats averaged 70,000 Tanzania shillings (TZS; range 40,000–100,000), while that of healthy adult sheep averaged TZS 50,000 (range 30,000–70,000). The average price of coenurosis-affected goats was TZS 20,000 (range 15,000 to 25,000), while the average price of similarly affected sheep was TZS 15,000 (range 10,000–20,000). Therefore, the farmer lost approximately TZS 50,000 and TZS 35,000 for each infected goat and sheep, respectively. The market price of the head of sheep/goats ranged from TZS 1000 to 5000 with an average of TZS 3000. Direct losses due to coenurosis for the past year due to mortality, lowered weight gain, market price depression, and head condemnation and indirect losses due to drug treatment, veterinary medicine and service costs, and wage losses due to treatment seeking are shown in Table S2a. The summation of the direct loss of TZS 121.4 M and the indirect loss of TZS 1.4 M gives a total financial loss of TZS 122.8 M (USD 52.9 K) per year (Table S2a). Therefore, the financial loss per household per year in Babati was estimated to be TZS 356.9 K (USD 154) and the total annual financial loss was TZS 21.42 billion (USD 9.2 M) (Table S2a).

In Ngorongoro District, farmers attributed 133 goat and 60 sheep deaths to coenurosis. A further 1889 goats and 1866 sheep were sold at reduced market price and 1955 goats and 1933 sheep were considered to have reduced weight gain. Finally, 629 goat heads and 403 sheep heads were condemned due to coenurosis. The average market price of healthy adult goats was TZS 162,000 (range TZS 70,000–400,000), while the average market price of healthy adult sheep was TZS 146,000 (range TZS 50,000–400,000). The average price of coenurosis-affected goats was TZS 43,400 (range TZS 10,000–100,000), while the average price of coenurosis-affected sheep was TZS 41,300 (range TZS 15,000–80,000).

Therefore, the farmer lost about TZS 118,600 and TZS 104,700 for each infected goat and sheep, respectively. The average market price of a goat’s head was TZS 12,000 and that of a sheep’s head was TZS 10,000. Direct losses for the past year due to mortality, lowered weight gain, market price depression, and head condemnation due to coenurosis and indirect losses due to drug treatment, veterinary medicine and service costs, and wage losses due to treatment seeking are shown in Table S2b. The summation of direct loss TZS 642.4 M and indirect loss TZS 14.2 M gives a total financial loss of TZS 656.6 M (USD 283 K) per year. Therefore, the financial loss per household per year in Ngorongoro District was estimated to be TZS 3.1 M (USD 1.3 K) and the total annual loss for Ngorongoro District was potentially as large as TZS 83.8 billion (USD 36.2 M) (Table S2b).

2.3. Knowledge of Farmers on Coenurosis in Babati and Ngorongoro Districts

About 50.9% (175/344) of the respondents in Babati District reported that coenurosis is the most common disease that affects small ruminants, followed by helminthosis (66/344, 19.2%), contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP; 53/344, 15.4%), diarrhea (23/344, 6.7%), mange (15/344, 4.4%), and 1.7% (6/344) each for both Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) and foot rot. In Ngorongoro District, coenurosis was the most commonly reported disease (87/214, 40.1%) followed by CCPP (76/213, 35.5%), PPR (28/214, 13.1%), helminthosis (6/214, 3%), and foot rot (4/214, 1.9%). Most of the respondents in the study area (294/344, 85.4% in Babati and 207/214, 96.7% in Ngorongoro) were aware of and able to describe coenurosis.

On the other hand, a large proportion (314/344, 91.4% in Babati and 185/214, 86.4% in Ngorongoro District) did not know the cause of coenurosis. Moreover, only a small proportion of respondents (10/344, 3% in Babati and 29/344, 13.6% in Ngorongoro) could explain that coenurosis transmission follows ingestion of contaminated pasture. About 84% (311/344) and 90% (181/214) of the respondents in Babati and Ngorongoro Districts, respectively, did not know the role of dogs in the transmission of T. multiceps coenurosis. Over 99% of the respondents (342/344 in Babati and 213/214 in Ngorongoro) were able to describe the diagnosis of coenurosis by clinical signs and postmortem findings, although fewer than 2% (4/344 in Babati and 4/214 in Ngorongoro Districts) were aware of appropriate control measures for the condition. Based on Index summated scale scores, a few respondents (2/344, 0.6%) in Babati and none in Ngorongoro had no knowledge about coenurosis at all, while 1.8% (6/344) in Babati and none (0/344) in Ngorongoro had high knowledge. The average knowledge score was 38.8% (6.2/16) in Babati and 34.2% (5.5/16) in Ngorongoro District (Table S3). Generally, high knowledge levels were skewed toward the definition, clinical signs, and diagnosis of the disease while low knowledge levels were observed with respect to the cause, transmission, and control of coenurosis. There was a statistically significant association between sex and knowledge about coenurosis in small ruminants (X² = 17.5, p-value = 0.0000), whereby, males were more knowledgeable than females (Table S4).

2.4. Attitude of Small Ruminant Keepers on the Control of Coenurosis in Babati and Ngorongoro Districts

Most respondents (>94%) agreed that “Training of farmers is important in controlling coenurosis”. Moreover, approximately 65% of the respondents agreed that control of coenurosis has a cost implication for farmers and they were willing to pay, while more than 86% of respondents agreed that farmers’ groups are an important tool in the implementation of coenurosis control programs. In general, >94% of respondents in the present study were willing to own, run, and participate in the control plans. Based on a 5-point Likert scale, the average attitude score of small ruminant keepers toward control of coenurosis was 33.9/40 (84.75%) in Babati and 33.1/40 (82.75%) for Ngorongoro District. Moreover, >94% of small ruminant-keeping communities had a favorable attitude toward the control of coenurosis (Table S3).

2.5. Coenurosis-Related Practices by Small Ruminant Keepers in Babati and Ngorongoro Districts

(i)

Coenurosis transmission-related practices

At least 80% of small ruminant keepers kept dogs with a maximum number of 10 dogs per household and an average of 2 dogs. Of all the households, 93.5% leave their dogs unconfined all the time, while 5.84% tie up their dogs at night, and 0.65% tie up their dogs all the time. About 65.9% of respondents who kept dogs reported deworming them, using anthelmintic products (albendazole, levamisole, and ivermectin) marketed for use in small ruminants and ineffective against cestodes. All dogs were fed homemade food, which comprised kitchen leftovers, condemned animal offals, and carcasses of dead animals. All respondents’ dogs had access to the brains of slaughtered/dead sheep and goats either directly thrown to dogs or indirectly by throwing them into the bush or by burying them in shallow pits.

(ii)

Coenurosis diagnosis-related practices

Small ruminant-keeping households use different techniques to identify coenurosis-affected animals in flocks. In the native language of the Mbugwe tribe of Babati District, coenurosis is called kelingorerya and in the Maasai language, it is called ormilo. The majority of respondents (98.5%) identify coenurosis-affected animals based on clinical signs such as unidirectional circling, lack of response to external stimuli, and presence of cysts in the brain during postmortem examination of the animal after slaughter or death. A few (0.9%) households practice pulling and rolling of ears of goats and sheep believing coenurosis-affected animals will make abnormal noises and start circling while healthy animals will not. Other respondents (0.6%) diagnose coenurosis by gentle tapping of the animal on the front of the head, stating that coenurosis-affected animals start to show central nervous system signs such as circling and making abnormal loud noises.

(iii)

Coenurosis control practices

For control of coenurosis, 38.1% of respondents attempted to treat sick animals by using injectable antibiotics, 31.5% did nothing to coenurosis infected animals, while 11.3% of the households applied hot iron on the head front (area between horns) of the infected animal. Other control practices reported by respondents include deworming infected goats and sheep, inserting a piece of wood into a nose and scratching gently to encourage nose bleeding, the use of traditional medicines, and selling or slaughtering diseased animals. According to respondents, none of the above mitigation measures reliably resulted in a curative outcome.

3. Materials and Methods

3.1. Study Area

This study was conducted between September 2020 and May 2021 in Babati and Ngorongoro Districts in Northern Tanzania. Babati and Ngorongoro Districts were selected because they have a large number of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists who keep small ruminants and other livestock and have reported many cases of coenurosis [22]. Babati District is located in Manyara region at latitude 4°13′0.01″ S and longitude 35°45′0.00″ E. Administratively, the district is divided into 4 divisions, 25 wards, and 102 villages; the population size is 312,392 and about 60,000 households are engaged in keeping livestock [23]. The altitude ranges from 950 m to 2450 m above mean sea level. The present study was conducted in (all) 14 villages, which are largely involved in sheep and goat keeping in Babati District (Figure 1). Ngorongoro District is located in the Arusha region and its features have previously been described [21]. It has a population of 174,278 people and about 27,337 households are engaged in livestock keeping [23]. Fifteen villages from fourteen wards of the Ngorongoro district were randomly selected to represent low, middle, and highland ecological zones in the study (Figure 1. The low, middle, and highland ecological zones contained 12, 17, and 9 villages, respectively, and five villages were randomly selected from each zone.

3.2. Study Design

A cross-sectional study was conducted and structured questionnaires were administered to all selected households by face-to-face interviews. The study population was small ruminant livestock keepers in Babati and Ngorongoro Districts. The list of households that keep sheep and goats in selected villages was made by village leaders in collaboration with Livestock Field Officers. All enlisted households in selected villages took part in the study. A total of 344 households from Babati and 214 households from Ngorongoro district were obtained and within each household, the household heads were interviewed except for the cases where the household head decided to select a representative who is more informed about livestock.

3.3. Data Collection and Analysis

Structured questionnaires were administered to heads of household or their representatives. The questionnaire comprised questions about personal socio-demographic information, herd/flock size and management, diseases of sheep and goats, dog ownership, health management of sheep, goats and dogs, livestock wildlife interaction, sales and market features of sheep and goats, and knowledge on coenurosis and attitude toward its control. These questions sought information for the determination of economic losses, farmers’ knowledge, and attitudes and practices regarding coenurosis control for the year 2019. Descriptive statistics such as totals, mean, proportions (and percentages), and ranks were computed for knowledge, attitude, and control practices of respondents by using SPSS software version 22. Association between variables was assessed by Chi-square or Fisher’s Exact test at a 5% significance level.

3.4. Assessment of Financial Losses

Twenty questions were asked to households seeking information on the losses encountered during the past year. Losses were attributed to coenurosis when farmers’ responses to specific questions included clinical signs and postmortem findings consistent with those described in previous studies in Northern Tanzania [15]. The losses were categorized as direct and indirect losses.

The direct losses were assessed based on the impact caused by disease and health problems on the animals. This included loss of income due to the death of animals, lower weight gain (growth), reduced price of live animals, and head condemnations. Losses due to death were estimated by multiplying the number of sheep and goats that died due to coenurosis by the current market price of healthy adult animals; losses due to lowered body weight gain were obtained by multiplying the number of coenurosis-affected animals, the proportional of body weight loss, and the price of healthy adult goats and sheep; losses due to the market price depression of infected sheep and goats were obtained by multiplying the number affected by the market price depression; and losses due to head condemnation were obtained by multiplying the number of condemned heads by the current market price of heads.

Indirect losses were determined by looking at the impact caused by farmers’ responses to diseased animals, such as attempting treatment. It included the additional treatment costs incurred by the farmer, which comprised the cost of buying medicines, veterinary service charges, and wage loss by the farmer due to treatment seeking. The wage loss was estimated by multiplying the average Tanzanian household wage per day, which was 7424.00 TZS (3.2 USD) [24] times the total number of respondents who lost their working days for treatment seeking. The total financial losses (L) were obtained by the summation of direct losses (DL) and indirect losses (IL), as previously described [20]. Direct losses included the summation of losses due to animal death (KP1), losses due to lower weight gain (WJP1), losses due to reduction in market price/market price depression (RP2), and losses due to condemnation of head (HP3).

DL = KP1 +WJP1 + RP2 + HP3 with modifications [2,21], where DL = Direct Losses, K = Number of animals dying of coenurosis, P1 = Average market price of health sheep/goats, W = Number of sheep/goats with lowered weight gain, and J = Proportion of body weight loss, which was 30% [25]. R = Number of coenurosis-affected sheep/goats, P2 = Average market price depression (average market price of healthy sheep/goat − Average market price of coenurosis-affected sheep/goats), H = Number of condemned head due to coenurosis, and P3 = Average market price of sheep/goat’s head. Indirect losses involved the summation of losses due to treatment cost (TC), which included medicine cost (MC) and service charge (SC) as well as losses due to wage losses (WL).

IL = TC + WL, where IL = Indirect losses, TC = Treatment cost (average cost of veterinary intervention per animal × Number of treated sheep/goats) + Medicine cost (MC) + Service charge cost (SC), and WL = Wage loss (average projection of Tanzanian household budget per day × number of respondents seeking treatment × number of days). That is, wage loss is the amount of average daily wage multiplied by the number of respondents multiplied by the number of days missed due to treatment seeking [21]. Household losses per year were computed as an average of total annual losses encountered due to direct and indirect losses to the number of respondents who participated in the study. The estimated total financial loss for the district was computed by multiplying the average household economic loss and the number of small ruminant keepers in respective districts. The exchange rate was 1 USD to 2320 TZS.

3.5. Assessment of Knowledge of Coenurosis

Farmer’s knowledge was assessed based on an Index summated scale in which the questionnaire with a series of questions was administered to household members and answers were given scores. For the correct answer, a score of ‘1’ was awarded while the wrong answer scored a ‘0’ mark. Sixteen (16) questions about disease definition, cause, clinical signs, diagnosis, and control were asked. The cut-off points were set to determine the status of the farmer, whereby those respondents who scored zero were grouped as “no knowledge” on coenurosis, scores of 1–5 were grouped as “low knowledge”, scores of 6–9 had “medium knowledge”, and total scores from 10–16 represented households with “high knowledge” on coenurosis. The overall average score was calculated by dividing the total scores of all respondents by the number of respondents.

3.6. Assessment of Attitude

Farmers were asked eight questions that sought their opinion with regard to the burden and control of coenurosis. The questionnaire focused on assessing farmers on their willingness to own, manage, and participate in the control plans and pay the control costs. The attitude of farmers was assessed by using a 5-point Likert summated scale, which was made up of 8 questions and translated into 40 points. The responses were categorized as 5 (strongly agree), 4 (agree), 3 (neutral), 2 (disagree), and 1 (strongly disagree). Then, for ease of comparison and interpretation, the 5 scale responses were re-grouped into three categories, strongly agree and agree were regarded as agree, strongly disagree and disagree were grouped as disagree, and neutral remained unchanged. A score of 24 points was denoted as a neutral attitude, while scores of less than 24 points and more than 24 points were categorized as unfavorable and favorable attitudes, respectively.

3.7. Assessment of Animal Management and Animal Health Practices

A section of the questionnaire for this domain sought information about flock management, animal health management, dog population and management, and coenurosis prevention and control. The number of times a practice was mentioned was sorted as a proportion of total responses. The practices were reported in ranks of popularity.

4. Discussion

The current study has shown that coenurosis causes significant economic loss among small ruminant keepers in Babati and Ngorongoro Districts, by quantification of both direct and indirect losses caused by this disease at the household level. The fact that each small ruminant-keeping household loses an average of TZS 357,000 (154 USD) in Babati and TZS 3,068,000 (1322 USD) per year shows how animal diseases may divert resource allocation from household priority needs such as education or health services. At the same time, animal diseases deny income-generating opportunities to the community. The contribution of animal diseases to economic losses in this area of Tanzania has been reported previously, where different diseases are assessed as a group and sometimes in combination with other non-disease issues, e.g., climate [22]. However, the assessment of economic losses due to individual diseases gives appropriate information to farmers, professionals, and policy/decision makers [25,26], which may help to set disease control priorities; a disease with high losses can be selected among many options [27] and motivate stakeholders to participate in and sustain disease control programs.

The economic losses experienced by small ruminant keepers in the study area may be attributed to low levels of knowledge about the cause, transmission (including the role of dogs), and control of coenurosis. As a result, all their current control approaches were inappropriate, wasted resources, and resulted in more production losses. However, the type of intervention varies with length of period of experience based on location and trend of disease spread. For instance, small ruminant keepers in Northern Tanzania have experienced coenurosis for more than a decade [16] and they have realized that there is neither treatment nor vaccination against coenurosis. Consequently, they opt for the sale or slaughter of infected animals. However, some non-invasive practices to diagnose coenurosis, e.g., pulling and rolling of ears or tapping the front of the head, are also sometimes used by buyers of small ruminants in auctions in northern parts of Tanzania, not for prevention of transmission but to attain a low buying price.

There are other research reports on economic losses due to coenurosis from different areas of Africa. For instance, a loss of approximately 23,700 USD was recorded in Legahida District in Ethiopia [20], while Bishoftu Elfora Export Abattoir and Helmex abattoir in the same country incurred losses of 18,100 USD and 313,000 USD, respectively [19,28]. However, these studies, which relied on data from abattoir slaughters and condemnations, do not adequately represent all losses to the community of small ruminant keepers in Ethiopia and are, therefore, not comparable to the present study, which engaged the community and registered the annual economic loss at the household level.

The current study is retrospective in nature and involves the collection of data related to past experience in terms of morbidities, mortalities, market events, and values and practices including diagnosis. Retrospective studies are prone to information recall bias, with possible differences in recall between a case or experience group compared with a non-case or control group [29] because experience leaves a memory mark in terms of emotions, pain, loss, responsibilities, gains, or change in state. The recollection is strong when the information sought after is related to an important event that directly affects the livelihood of respondents and the experience is vivid and persisting or within a recent period of time [30]. The current study gathered information from small ruminant keepers on important community issues, family economics, and wellbeing. Those respondents who experienced the occurrence of coenurosis cases, coenurosis-related deaths, sales or slaughter of sheep and goats, or who tried to intervene to control the disease by treatment or different methods, may have had a better recollection and provided more accurate data. The reliability of information is highly likely because most respondents had family positions with socio-economic responsibilities affected by economic losses due to coenurosis [30].

Respondents in the present study have shown favorable attitudes toward coenurosis control in terms of acknowledging that coenurosis is an important disease and their readiness to own, run, and participate in control and pay the associated costs. This finding is consistent with the findings of previous studies carried out in Ethiopia [31]. Therefore, creating community awareness on small ruminant and dog management in rural areas is of paramount importance for the protection of animals and public health. Reasons for not practicing good animal management may be related to negligence and illiteracy among livestock keepers in the area of study. This is likely associated with a lack of training related to small ruminants and dog parasitic zoonotic diseases compared to better-known diseases such as rabies, for which there are educational and vaccination campaigns in the study area. This observation is similar to a report from Ethiopia that testified that most dog owners were more aware of rabies compared with parasitic zoonoses [31]. The present study showed that many farmers fail to control coenurosis because of incorrect application of control measures, in turn, due to limited knowledge about its cause, transmission mode, and control. However, their favorable attitudes toward control measures can influence coenurosis intervention programs positively. Therefore, there is a clear need to develop community-based health education packages, such as printed leaflets appropriate for training livestock farmers in the study area to improve their knowledge of the disease. The education program should target women especially because the study revealed that they have limited knowledge about coenurosis and also school children due to their shared role with women in animal management [32].

The economic loss in Ngorongoro District was four times higher than that in Babati. The differences may be due to differences in small ruminant flock characteristics and management. Farmers in the Ngorongoro district keep the Galla/Isiolo breed of goats that grow fast to attain a mature weight of 45–55 kg for females and 60–70 kg for males and thus, fetch high market prices. By comparison, the Small East African goat breed kept in Babati is usually sold at much lower weights of 20–27 kg [33]. The contrast in flock sizes may also help explain the difference in financial losses, whereby farmers in Ngorongoro tend to keep far larger flocks than their Babati counterparts.

5. Conclusions and Recommendations

The study has revealed that an average small ruminant-keeping household in Babati District lost TZS 357,000 and the total loss for the District was TZS 21.4 billion in 2019. In Ngorongoro District, the average small ruminant-keeping household lost TZS 3 million and the small ruminant-keeping community as a whole lost a total of TZS 83.8 billion; these are huge losses. These farmers have poor knowledge of the cause, transmission of coenurosis, and of its control methods. However, they have attitudes favorably disposed toward coenurosis control plans. The lack of knowledge about coenurosis is a major contributor to the observed huge financial losses, which in turn motivate the farmer to engage in control efforts. Therefore, a comprehensive community training package on coenurosis may lead to a sustainable control program and a decline in financial losses.