In the sahelian semi-arid belt at the border of southern Sahara desert, extensive mobile livestock production systems are prevailing. Over the last 10’000 years, mobile livestock production and nomadic way of life have evolved from semi-arid climatic conditions with seasonal rainfalls and periodical draughts. Due to this adaptation this production system is potentially seen as the most sustainable natural resource management strategy to use scarce and remote semi-arid rangelands. But sustainable development that addresses the rapid economical, social, environmental and political changes may be difficult to implement because mobile populations live in remote areas where they are hard to reach for social interventions and services (e.g. human and animal health and education). They are spatially and politically marginalized resulting in a high vulnerability to different risks.
The goal of the Swiss Tropical Institute (STI) in partnership with the ‘Centre de Support en Santé Internationale au Tchad’ (CSSI) is to better integrate Chadian pastoral nomadic populations in equity effective national development programs. Between 2000 and 2007 STI and CSSI have conducted joint human and animal vaccination campaigns in the Lake Chad area among mobile nomadic populations (Schelling et al., 2007; Schelling et al., 2005). However, important demographic parameters such as total population sizes are still missing, but are needed to evaluate the vaccination campaigns in terms of reduction of child mortality and achieved vaccination coverage. Generally, (useful) census data is inexistent for mobile nomadic populations of sub-Saharan Africa. There is thus a need for demographic and health information and surveillance. The range of demographic and health surveillance methods, tools and approaches is appropriate for settled households but hardly applicable to mobile populations. New evaluation and monitoring methods, approaches and tools need to be developed and tested. The combination of biometric fingerprint identification technology, GIS and epidemiological data and population modeling methods seems to be a way forward.
We could show the feasibility of the use of a biometric fingerprint identification system in the field. In combination with a GIS we can map and analyze migration and density of the nomadic people encountered and other variables of our demographic or health data base in dependence of their seasonal migration. With a multiple mark-recapture population model, where individual fingerprints are used as markers, estimates of population sizes with their variation within seasons and in-and out-migration are outcome parameters. We present a new method to foster new “mobile household methods” in follow-up surveys and (reconstructed) cohort studies. Due to the proper identification of individuals, they can be reencountered in follow-up visits.
The significance for health systems development is seen in the evaluation, planning, adaptation and implementation processes of interventions and services that have to be adapted to the mobile way of life of nomadic people. Only this adaptation can lead towards equity effective of health interventions on a national level. Therefore, the registration of every life for census and health metrics is a precondition – and a demand of the concerned populations who perceives this registration as increasing equity between settled and nomadic populations. Biometric identification technology is a crucial element of future mobile health and demographic surveillance system among mobile pastoralists.
Daniel Weibel, MSc.
References
SCHELLING,E., BECHIR,M., AHMED,M.A., WYSS,K., RANDOLPH,T.F. & ZINSSTAG,J. (2007) Human and animal vaccination delivery to remote nomadic families, Chad. Emerging Infect. Dis. 13, 373-379.
SCHELLING,E., WYSS,K., BÉCHIR,M., DAUGLA,D. & ZINSSTAG,J. Synergy between public health and veterinary services to deliver human and animal health interventions in rural low income settings. BMJ [331], 1264-1267. 2005.
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