Controlling tsetse and trypanosomosis to protect African livestock keepers, public health and farmers’ livelihoods

Controlling tsetse and trypanosomosis to protect African livestock keepers, public health and farmers’ livelihoods

Editor

FAO ;

Descripción

Tsetse-transmitted Trypanosomoses are a family of infectious diseases unique to Africa that are caused by various species of blood parasites. They affect both people (Human African Trypanosomosis – HAT, or sleeping sickness) and animals (African Animal Trypanosomosis – AAT, or nagana), and they occur in 37 sub-Saharan countries over an area of more than 10 million km² – which corresponds approximately to one-third of Africa’s total land area. The infection threatens over 50 million people and at least 50 million cattle. The disease is often neglected by both endemic countries and donors as it mostly affects poor and vulnerable smallholders in rural areas. In the framework of the Programme Against African Trypanosomosis (PAAT), FAO deals with the constraints that Trypanosomoses pose on agricultural production, rural development and food security.