Where There is No Data: Participatory approaches to veterinary epidemiology in pastoral areas of the Horn of Africa

This paper provides an overview of recent experiences with the use of participatory approaches and methods to understand livestock diseases in pastoral areas. These experiences include the emergence of participatory epidemiology as a distinct branch of veterinary epidemiology, and most recently, studies on the validity and reliability of participatory methods. The paper discusses how participatory assessment can compliment conventional systems of veterinary inquiry and outlines plans to integrate conventional systems of veterinary partipatory epidemiology into national veterinary epidemiology units.