Building resilience: Combatting Marek's disease in Ghana's chicken industry

As part of a multi-institutional effort to address the challenge of poultry disease in Ghana, scientists from the International Livestock Research Institute and the Roslin Institute recently took part in a second Group Model Building workshop in Accra.

The workshop was part of a project on socio-economic and mathematical modeling of poultry genetics and diseases known as the Marek’s disease project.

Marek’s disease is a highly contagious viral disease of poultry that can cause weight loss, poor feed conversion, and up to 90% mortalities in unvaccinated flocks.

While limited testing is done for the disease in Ghana, evidence suggests that the disease is ubiquitous in the country, and outbreaks are frequent among small-scale commercial chicken operations with laxer vaccination and biosecurity practices.

With the goal of improving management of Marek’s disease in the country, the workshop brought together 15 animal health and poultry farmers, veterinary practitioners, scientists and socio-economic researchers, as well as policymakers and representatives of non-governmental organizations. The workshop refined a decision support tool that was developed using a quantitative system dynamics model.

Photo: FUNAAB Alpha chickens (credit: ILRI/ACGG Nigeria)