**3. How do we control brucellosis in Sierra Leone?**

The strategy to prevent brucellosis is much dependent on the production system. Two methods used include test and slaughter and vaccination. The former requires a laboratory facility, which is lacking in the rural communities. The latter option involves not only the administration of vaccines but also many other techniques and includes various sectors of people.

A large percentage of the adult population in Sierra Leone is illiterate and live in rural communities where cattle farmers exist. Any change or transformation in the cattle sector to control brucellosis will require the involvement of the entire cattle rearers and the community people. This approach is known as One Health.

One Health approach is any benefit to the complete well-being of humans, animals and their environment because of the synergy of integrated humans, and veterinary is a positive step toward the One Health approach. Such vale can even include financial savings and environmental services [33].

The One Health approach involves the following:

	- Print and electronic media. Identifying people within and outside the community to write about the disease and intervention by the community people. Such interventions could be flyers on various aspects of the disease as an awareness-raising process strategy to inform the people and country as a whole.
	- Play/drama committee: Identifying people within and outside the community, to act a play on brucellosis. Such play focuses mainly on how people contract the disease, signs and symptoms, mode of transmission, prevention and control. The drama target public health aspects of eating dead animals with the disease. Such interventions will educate the public and communities will put the disease under control.
	- Songs: They composed songs in their local dialect as a means of understanding the disease correctly.
	- Quiz committee for schoolchildren. Quiz competitions are held in various schools where the outbreak has occurred; children pass the message to their parents and neighbors from the competitions held. Such actions will educate the general populace and help reduce or eradicate it from the community.
	- Bike riders, taxi/poda poda drivers: These are a group or community of people who aid in killing and stealing of these animals in the community. Involving them in the awareness campaign and the implementation of the provisions of the by-laws will reduce stealing and minimize the spread of the disease. In such communities no bike rider transports animals after 6:00 pm.
	- Vaccination and registration committee. This committee is charged with the responsibility of educating the people and animal owners about

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provided the original work is properly cited.

Njala University, Njala, Sierra Leone

*One Health Approach to Control Brucellosis in Sierra Leone*

the need to vaccinate their animals. They mount such campaign for about a month or 2 weeks depending on the availability of funds. People bring their animals in large numbers during the vaccination exercise. People register their animals in order to track them during subsequent

• Engaging the radio in massive sensitization and education about brucellosis. The 11 year old civil war made the majority of Sierra Leoneans learn to love to listen to the radio. Such a medium has been used to pass information to the broader public, while at the same time allows them to ask a question. The outbreak of disease has reduced due to increase in

vi.Formulating by-laws to ensure compliance by all categories of people and conducting routine vaccination on yearly basis. This bottom-top approach

vii.The above process benefits people by engaging them all in fighting disease outbreaks. Such gathering of people to fight the common enemy called

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease ravaging resource-poor communities in the world including Africa and Asia. Vaccination campaigns in Sierra Leone had not eradicated the disease since 1966. The One Health approach which adds value to people's lives by the involvement of all partners with a strong medium of communication is a step in the right direction toward controlling the disease in Sierra Leone.

knowledge of the people on a particular disease.

will help in the prevention of brucellosis in Sierra Leone.

disease is known as ONE HEALTH.

The authors have not declared any conflict of interest.

Roland Suluku\*, Jesse P.J. Nyandeboh and Sheku Moiforay

\*Address all correspondence to: nyasulukuroland2710@gmail.com

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.82378*

registration.

**4. Conclusions**

**Conflict of interest**

**Author details**

© 2019 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,

the need to vaccinate their animals. They mount such campaign for about a month or 2 weeks depending on the availability of funds. People bring their animals in large numbers during the vaccination exercise. People register their animals in order to track them during subsequent registration.

