Listening to Farmers to Spot Rift Valley Fever Earlier

Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a zoonotic disease that can sweep through herds in what are called abortion storms, causing heavy economic and cultural losses for livestock owners. It is a priority for regional control under the African Union Zoonotic Disease Control Plan (2025-2029), yet outbreaks are often detected late because community reporting of animal abortions remains weak. To understand why, a team led by corresponding author Abel Wilson Walekhwa carried out a qualitative study in Isingiro district, Uganda. Using an implementation science lens and the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation–Behaviour (COM-B) framework, researchers explored the human and system factors that help or hinder community-based reporting of livestock abortions. Their goal was practical: identify how to make surveillance faster and more reliable so outbreaks like RVF can be detected and contained before they cause large-scale losses. The study focused on what tools people already use, what community structures exist, and what motivations and fears drive or block reporting, yielding a rounded picture of reporting behaviour in the places where livestock and people interact most closely.

The research combined 29 key informant interviews with national and district policymakers and technical officers and 17 focus group discussions with livestock owners, abattoir operators and local leaders. Data collection took place in March to May 2023 and verbatim transcripts were analyzed deductively using NVivo-12. Results showed that reporting is not a simple, one-way task but a nonlinear, reciprocal process that requires aligned interventions across Capability, Opportunity and Motivation. Capabilities that facilitated reporting included widespread mobile phones and social media such as WhatsApp, and national laboratory infrastructure including the Uganda Virus Research Institute, Central Public Health Laboratory and National Animal Diseases Diagnostics and Epidemiological Centre [NADDEC], plus the Ministry of Health’s Emergency Operations Centre for real-time coordination. Opportunities included established community structures like monthly local leaders’ meetings and community health workers and integrated surveillance platforms such as tuberculosis contact tracing and the Mobile Trac platform. Motivations to report were driven by fear of economic and cultural livestock losses and the perceived severity of RVF. Barriers were also clear: inadequate district veterinary laboratories and transport; economic sensitivities related to trade and tourism and the absence of a local RVF name that hinders recognition; and weakened motivation from lack of post-report feedback and poor veterinary consultation practices. Based on these findings the authors recommended integrating abortion reporting into Uganda’s Electronic Surveillance platform (EMA-i), co-developing vernacular RVF names with communities, instituting “no blame” reporting protocols, and strengthening district-level veterinary laboratory capacity.

These findings have practical implications for policymakers and veterinary services aiming to catch RVF outbreaks earlier. Strengthening what already works—mobile communication, WhatsApp groups, trusted community health workers and regular local leader meetings—could make reporting faster and more routine. At the same time, filling gaps is crucial: district laboratories and transport must be improved so samples can be tested promptly; the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries can push integration of abortion reporting into EMA-i to make data flow more seamless; and working with communities to agree on vernacular names for RVF and adopting “no blame” reporting approaches can reduce the economic and social barriers that keep people silent. Together these steps can increase the motivation to report and sustain reporting behaviour, making surveillance more sensitive and timely. If adopted, the measures outlined by Abel Wilson Walekhwa and colleagues offer a route toward more resilient, community-linked RVF surveillance that protects livelihoods and public health.