What is the clinical evidence from this study?

Study design: Cross-Sectional. Population: Foot and mouth disease (FMD) economic impact (n=150). Intervention: Foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak. Primary outcome: Total economic loss per household.

February 11, 2026Open Access

Economic impact of foot and mouth disease outbreak on smallholder cattle farmers in Soroti, Eastern Uganda

Resultado clave

The foot and mouth disease outbreak caused a mean total economic loss of USD 323.01 per household, with cattle mortality accounting for 45.65% of the total financial burden.

Diseño del estudio

Tipo

Cross-Sectional (n=150)

Multicéntrico

PICO estructurado

Población

150 smallholder cattle farmers (households) in Soroti, Eastern Uganda, affected by a Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak between May and December 2014.

Resultado

Economic cost of FMD outbreak on the livelihood of affected farmers per household

Foot and mouth disease outbreaks cause significant economic losses for smallholder cattle farmers in Uganda, averaging USD 323 per household, primarily driven by cattle mortality and loss of draft power.

Limitaciones

Recall bias due to the absence of farm records
Difficulty estimating input and output quantities leading to estimation errors
Self-reported losses may have been filtered, omitted, or misreported
Social or prestige bias where farmers may distort answers to conform to societal norms

Resumen

Foot and mouth disease (FMD), caused by Aphthovirus of the Picornaviridae family, is a devastating highly contagious viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals. Because FMD is considered endemic in many parts of Uganda, recurrent outbreaks occur every year across livestock species. FMD is a controlled and reportable disease in Uganda and the country spends about USD 10 million annually for control. The aim of the study was to evaluate the economic cost of FMD outbreak on the livelihood of affected farmers in Soroti, Eastern Uganda. The impact of FMD was evaluated using data obtained during an outbreak that occurred between May and December 2014. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire administered to 150 cattle farmers in the study area. The findings showed that heifers had the lowest mortality of 1.8%; steers had a mortality of 3.6%, bulls 4.3% and cows 5.2%. The highest mortality was observed among calves at 37.8%. During this outbreak, the economic loss totaled to a mean of USD 323.01 per household. Mortality alone accounted for 45.65% of the total economic loss (x̄= USD 147.46) per household. Loss of draft power was x̄= USD 120.88. Cost of vaccination was x̄= USD 2.09, vaccines are however procured by government. Cost of treatment was x̄= USD 25.16 while cost milk yield loss was estimated at x̄= USD 10.76. Abortion losses were estimated to be x̄= USD 16.69 per household. In conclusion, FMD outbreak caused significant economic losses in the study area. The development of strategic FMD control interventions including regular vaccination was recommended to control these frequent FMD outbreaks.

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Cite This Study

Ekou et al. (Wed,) conducted a cross-sectional in Foot and mouth disease (FMD) economic impact (n=150). Foot and mouth disease (FMD) outbreak was evaluated on Total economic loss per household. The foot and mouth disease outbreak caused a mean total economic loss of USD 323.01 per household, with cattle mortality accounting for 45.65% of the total financial burden.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a127dab8edbaba0bf675d77 https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1007/s44338-026-00171-5

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