Integrating digital and field surveillance to complement efforts to manage epidemic diseases of livestock: African swine fever as a case study

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has unveiled the importance of stakeholders and ordinary citizens in managing infectious disease emergencies. Efficient management of infectious diseases requires a top-down approach which must be complemented with a bottom-up response to be effective. Here we investigate a novel approach to surveillance for transboundary animal diseases using African Swine fever as a model. We were able to collect data at a population level on information-seeking behavior and at a local level through a targeted questionnaire-based survey to relevant stakeholders such as farmers and veterinary authorities. Our study shows how information-seeking behavior and resulting public attention during an epidemic, can be addressed through novel data streams from digital platforms such as Wikipedia. We also bring evidence on how field surveys aimed at local workers (e.g. farmers) and public authorities remain a crucial tool to assess more in-depth preparedness and awareness among front-line actors. We conclude that they should be used in combination to maximize the outcome of surveillance and prevention activities for selected transboundary animal diseases.