Assessment of awareness on food borne zoonosis and its relation with Veterinary Public Health Services in and around Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

A survey qualitative survey was conducted to assess the awareness on food borne zoonosis and its relation with Veterinary Public Health Services in Addis Ababa and its surrounding districts from November 2008 to May 2009. Structured questionnaire was used in the study. Questionnaires were distributed to 384 individuals, of which 196 were elementary and high school students, and 196 were Graduates. Factors like education level, information source and profession were considered for possible explanation of the results. The use of inspected animal products is found statistically different (P<0.05) among health and non health professionals while no difference is seen between students and graduates. The majority (85.42%) of the students get their information from other information sources like their families in the form of advice and 67.71% of health professionals get their information from their medical schools. The most frequently mentioned zoonotic diseases were Rabies 384(100 %), followed by Anthrax 362(94.27%), Teniasis 342 (89.06%), Tuberculosis 340 (88.54%) and Brucellosis 190(49.48%) and 120(31.25%) mentioned other infectious diseases of zoonotic importance. The importance of veterinary public health in the overall public health institutions was assessed by looking at the responses to questions and shown that yet the public health institutions don’t see the need of having veterinarians in the public health. In conclusion this study demonstrated that the awareness and use of inspected and packed animal products is relatively low that expose the people to risk of food borne pathogens and the awareness of health institutes on the importance of veterinary public health service is relatively low. The authors would like to recommend to the government and concerned bodies to raise the awareness of the public using the appropriate communication media, and to strengthen the contribution of public health veterinarians in the public health services for better community health.