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Although foot and mouth disease (FMD) is endemic in Ethiopia, use of vaccines to control the disease has been practiced sparingly. This is due to perceived high cost of good quality FMD vaccine, and consequently limited availability of the vaccine in the market. This study was conducted to assess farmers' willingness to pay (WTP) for a quality FMD vaccine and identify factors that could potentially influence their WTP in Amhara region of Ethiopia. A total of 398 farmers from four districts that represent the mixed crop-livestock and market oriented production systems were enrolled for the study. The WTP was estimated using contingent valuation method with a double-bound dichotomous choice bid design. Interval regression analysis was used to estimate mean WTP and identify factors that influence it. The results showed that the mean WTP of all farmers was Ethiopian Birr (ETB) 58.23 (95% CI: 56.20-60.26)/annual dose. It was ETB 75.23 (95% CI: 72. 97-74.49) for market oriented farmers and ETB 42.6 (95%CI: 41.24-43.96) for mixed crop livestock farmers. Willingness to pay for the vaccine was significantly higher for farmers in market oriented system than in mixed crop livestock system. It was also significantly higher for farmers whose main livelihood is livestock than those whose main livelihood is other than livestock, and for farmers who keep exotic breed cattle and their crosses than those who keep only local cattle breeds. Willingness to pay significantly increased with increase in FMD impact perception and vaccine knowledge scores of farmers. The high mean WTP estimates showed that farmers are enthusiastic about using the FMD vaccine. Market-oriented farmers with higher willingness to pay may be more likely to pay full cost if official FMD vaccination is planned in the country than mixed crop livestock farmers. Animal health extension about livestock diseases impact and vaccines has a potential to increase farmers' uptake of vaccines for disease control.

The current study was carried out in central and North-western parts of Ethiopia to assess the efficacy of Kenyan sheep pox virus strain vaccine (KS1 O-180) against natural lumpy skin disease (LSD) infection under field conditions by estimating its effect on the transmission and severity of the disease. For this study, an LSD outbreak was defined as the occurrence of at least one LSD case in a specified geographical area. An observational study was conducted on a total of 2053 (1304 vaccinated and 749 unvaccinated) cattle in 339 infected herds located in 10 sub-kebeles and a questionnaire survey was administered to 224 herd owners. Over 60% of the herd owners reported that the vaccine has a low to very low effect in protecting animals against clinical LSD; almost all of them indicated that the vaccine did not induce any adverse reactions. In the unvaccinated group of animals 31.1% were diagnosed with LSD while this was 22.5% in the vaccinated group (P < 0.001). Severity of the disease was significantly reduced in vaccinated compared to unvaccinated animals (OR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.49; 0.96). Unvaccinated infected animals were more likely (predicted fraction = 0.89) to develop moderate and severe disease than vaccinated infected animals (predicted fraction = 0.84). LSD vaccine efficacy for susceptibility was estimated to be 0.46 (i.e. a susceptibility effect of 0.54) while the infectiousness effect of the vaccine was 1.83. In other words, the vaccine reduces the susceptibility by a factor of two and increases infectiousness by approximately the same amount. LSD transmission occurred in both vaccinated and unvaccinated animals, the estimated reproduction ratio (R) was 1.21 in unvaccinated animals compared to 1.19 in vaccinated ones, and not significantly different. In conclusion, KS1 O-180 vaccination, as applied currently in Ethiopia, has poor efficacy in protecting cattle populations against LSD, neither by direct clinical protection nor by reducing transmission, and t

Lumpy skin disease (LSD), an infectious viral disease of cattle, causes considerable financial losses in livestock industry of affected countries. A questionnaire survey with the objectives of determining direct economic losses of LSD (mortality loss, milk loss, draft loss) and treatment costs (medication and labour cost) per affected herd, and assessing the cost effectiveness of vaccination as a means for LSD control was carried out in the central and north-western parts of Ethiopia. From a total of 4430 cattle (in 243 herds) surveyed, 941 animals (in 200 herds) were reported to be infected. The overall morbidity and mortality at animal level were 21.2% and 4.5%, and at herd level these were 82.3% and 24.3%. There was a significant difference in animal level morbidity and mortality between categories of animals. Over 94% of the herd owners ranked LSD as a big or very big problem for cattle production. A large proportion (92.2%) of the herd owners indicated that LSD affects cattle marketing. A median loss of USD 375 (USD 325 in local Zebu and USD 1250 in Holstein-Friesian local Zebu cross cattle) was estimated per dead animal. Median losses per affected lactating cow were USD 141 (USD 63 in local Zebu cows and USD 216 in Holstein-Friesian local Zebu cross cows) and, USD 36 per affected ox. Diagnosis and medication cost per affected animal were estimated at USD 5. The median total economic loss of an LSD outbreak at herd level was USD 1176 (USD 489 in subsistence farm and USD 2735 in commercial farm). At herd level, the largest component of the economic loss was due to mortality (USD 1000) followed by milk loss (USD 120). LSD control costs were the least contributor to herd level losses. The total herd level economic losses in the commercial farm type were significantly higher than in the subsistence farm type. The financial analysis showed a positive net profit of USD 136 (USD 56 for subsistence farm herds and USD 283 for commercial herds) per herd due to LSD vaccin