Abstract
Focus group discussions.
This research activity on gender and bacteriophages is one of the aims within the research project ‘Phages as a one health approach for the replacement of antibiotics, and reduction of drug resistant nontyphoidal Salmonella, in poultry farms in Kenya’. Bacteriophage (phage) technology has the potential to prevent and/ or treat fowl typhoid, pullorum disease, and salmonellosis in chickens, kill Salmonella species on surfaces, and prevent food-borne illness caused by Salmonella species in humans.
This gender-responsive study considers design opportunities for bacteriophage therapy, a veterinary product under development for the Kenyan context that uses parasitic viruses called bacteriophages (phages) to attack pathogenic Salmonella bacteria responsible for fowl typhoid, salmonellosis, and pullorum in chickens and foodborne illness in people. Bacteriophage technology, if adopted as an alternative and/ or complement to antibiotics to address these health concerns in poultry, could reduce the selective pressures that contribute to the evolution of drug resistant Salmonella.
The main goals of the project is to assess the feasibility of adoption of bacteriophage technology by men and women chicken farmers in free-range and semi-intensive production systems in Kenya, and to identify opportunities and barriers to adoption that may vary by gender. The specific objectives are to:
1. Map disease problems, existing solutions, and delivery system preferences to assess the feasibility of adoption of bacteriophages for chicken farmers
2. Identify opportunities and barriers to adoption of bacteriophages that may vary by gender
3. Inform the development of a product that can address the problems of chicken farmers using an appropriate delivery system
