Assessment of Veterinary Extension Service and Public Perception on Major Infectious and Zoonotic Disease at Robe Veterinary Clinic of Bale Zone, Oromia, Ethiopia

A survey-based cross-sectional study was conducted from April to August 2021 to assess veterinary extension service and public perception on major infectious and zoonotic diseases at Robe veterinary clinic. 384 animal owners who brought their animals for treatment were interviewed. The result indicated that 70.8% of respondents had no veterinary extension service. The majority (88%) had no access to the veterinary consultant. Although 51.6% of them used AI, only 7.8% of them know how to detect estrous. The most frequently known zoonotic diseases were Rabies (96.6%) followed by Anthrax (33.07%), and Tuberculosis (4.2%). Out of the 96.6% of respondents that replied to know about Rabies, 51.8% of them mentioned the disease can be transmitted only through dog biting while 14.8% of them say through biting and contact with saliva. Likewise, only 43.3% of respondents perceive that Anthrax is transmitted through ingestion, whereas 85% of them mentioned Tuberculosis can be transmitted from animal to humans only through inhalation. Although most animal owners prefer early treatment of animals in the veterinary clinic, there are also practices of traditional animal treatment. Remarkable only 16.4% and 24.7% of respondents know the importance of vaccination and slaughterhouse respectively. 93.8% and 94.8% of them still consume raw milk and meat respectively.

Livestock sector in Ethiopia is an integral part of agriculture, accounting for about 45% of the total value of agricultural production and supporting the livelihoods of over 65% human population. More than 80% of the population lives in rural areas in contact with livestock out of which 30% of them are still in poverty [6,7]. In terms of livestock population, Ethiopia leads African countries with an estimated 59 million cattle, 30 million sheep, 23 million goats, 1 million camels, and 57 million poultry, 11 million equines and a small number of pigs [8]. On top of their use as a source of foods, product of comodities and services to the people, the livestock also provides 10% the countries export earnings, mainly through live animal export. The total supply of animal source foods in the country, including net trade, translates into a per capita consumption of 9 kg meat, 56.2 liters of milk and about 4 eggs per year. Cattle products, beef and cow milk contribute to almost 80% of all meat and milk consumption. Market transactions are largely in urban areas as self-consumption dominates in rural areas [9] In Ethiopia, where animals are used for transportation, farming, cloths, source of fuel and dietary protein, there is very close contact among humans, animals, wildlife and the surrounding environment. In the absence of appropriate animal and human health care and preventative health services, this crosscontact creates public health risks via zoonotic disease transmission with enormous economic consequences [10,11].
Health extension services for knowledge transfer from professionals to society play an important role in the prevention and control of infectious diseases. Before 2015 in Ethiopia, there was no well-developed national strategy to teach society about animal health and zoonosis. This important gap created a lack of perception of society about the disease. Later in 2015 multidisciplinary One-Health initiative workshops developed a list of Rabies, anthrax, brucellosis, leptospirosis and echinococcosis as the top ve priority zoonotic diseases the greatest national concern in Ethiopia [12].
Veterinary health extension is a sector of animal health service to the community that can provide information through continuing education, informal training, consultations and materials to practitioners as well as animal health packages to the animal owners. Although improvement in animal health care correlates with better public health care, the control of zoonotic disease in Ethiopia has been partially neglected between veterinary and medical professionals [5,13]. Currently, the number of universities that produce veterinary professionals and veterinary infrastructures that could provide the platform for animal health extension services in the country. But still, the extension service so far given by the veterinarian is very limited and mainly targets the convectional treating sick animals, providing seasonal vaccination and occasionally delivery of arti cial insemination. Chemotherapy becoming the routine attempt for treatment and control of animal disease; which usually end-up with antibiotic resistance [5]. There is a limited attempt by the veterinarian to transfer the knowledge about risks of animal disease transmission to the animal owners and community at large [14].
Zoonosis is an infectious disease that is transmitted from animals to humans. Of the microbial diseases affecting humans 61% are zoonotic [15]. The transmission may occur through direct contact with the animal, through vectors, or food or water contamination. Globally, zoonosis is said to account for 75% of all emerging pathogens [16,17]. The impact of zoonotic diseases on society includes animal and productivity loss, livelihood income loss and human health burden which further causes societal and economic loss [18]. There is high zoonotic disease health problem with many farmers still practicing poor livestock production [19,20].
The control strategies for zoonotic diseases largely rely on the creation of public health awareness. In a resource-scarce developing country like Ethiopia, improving knowledge, attitude and practice of animal owners about infectious disease and zoonosis is critical to contain the spread of zoonotic diseases [21,22]. In this regard, veterinarians are one of the key people in multidisciplinary and community-based health services. They could able to deliver veterinary extension services to animal owners. However, particularly in Ethiopia, there are no clear policies and allocated veterinary professional positions that teach the community about primary animal health care. Hence the present study was intended to assess the current status of veterinary extension service as well as public perception on major infectious and zoonotic diseases at Robe veterinary clinic of Bale zone.

Study Area
Robe, also called Bale-Robe, is a town located in Sinana district of the Bale Zone, Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. It is one of the consistently surplus producer zones of the region. The capital city of the zone, Robe town is located about 430 kilometers from Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa. It has a latitude and longitude of 7°7′N 40°0′E with an elevation of 2,492 meters (8,176 ft) above sea level. Robe receives a relatively high amount of rainfall which is balanced in distribution pattern. According to available data, the mean annual rainfall ranges from 590 mm in the summer and 560 mm in the winter season. The area is highly populous, highly fertile and suitable for agricultural activities. The 2007 national census reported a total population for Robe of 44,382, of whom 22,543 were men and 21,839 were women [23].

Study population
All population brought their animal for diagnosis to Bale Robe veterinary clinic having different health problems during the study periods were considered as the study population.

Study design
A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study design was employed from April to August 2021 to assess the perception of the public on infectious disease and zoonotic diseases in Robe town of Bale zone, Oromia regional state. A structured and pre-tested questionnaire format was used.

Sample size determination
The sample size was determined based on derivation sample size [25].
Where N= required sample size exp= expected prevalence d= desired absolute precision Data collection Questionnaire survey A detailed and organized questionnaire format was designed in an attempt to generate baseline information related and used for the face-to-face interview to evaluate the current Veterinary extension service status, perception of the community about the common and major infectious animal disease and zoonotic disease [26]. The questionnaire contains questions that can evaluate the perception of the respondents about zoonotic and infectious disease's importance, their transmission cycle and major clinical signs in humans and animals. In addition, animal owner perception and practice on the prevention and control of the disease were accessed.

Data management and analysis
The collected data were stored in the Excel Microsoft (MS excel 2007) and descriptive statistics and chisquare (χ2) correlation analysis were performed using Statistical Program of Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 software packages (SPSS Inc, Chicago, IL, USA). For all analysis performed, 95% CI and Pvalue < 0.05 was set for statistical signi cance of an estimate.

Result
Socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents From Table 1, the majority of respondents were male (78.1%) and the remaining (21.9%) are female. The maximum and minimum Ages were (68) and (16) years. Concerning marital and education status, (64.3%) of the respondents are married followed by unmarried (28.4%) and (20.6%) of the respondents are illiterate. Most of the respondents that participated in this study were farmers and merchants in which account for a proportion of (40.1%) and (33.3%) respectively. The highest number of the respondents (65.4%) had come from around robe. Perception of respondents about veterinary extension service and production management practice The highest number of the respondents (44%) had owned mixed-type livestock and followed by only cattle (30.5%) and shoats (7.8%). The fundamental questions for this study were to nd out whether the respondents were trained about animal production, animal management, and animal health and how to control the animal disease. As shown in (Table 2) results reveals respondents (66.1%) and (70.8%) were not trained, which indicates that the extension service in the study area was poor. Regarding the presence of consultants in the study area, most of the respondents (88.5%) had no professionals who had been consulted them about animal health and management.
Analysis of the attitude of respondents toward extension services indicates that all of the respondents (100%) are in support of agricultural extension service although (99%) of the respondents keep their animal sanitation and health by cleaning their animal house. The major type of feed source for their animals mentioned by the respondents was concentrated plus grazing (53.6%) natural pasture (grazing) also used in the study area (31.2%). Regarding the estrous cycle (92.2%) of the respondents do not know how to detect the early estrous sign and only half (51.6%) of respondents bring their animals to the veterinary clinic at the proper time in search of the AI service. Major animal problem The largest problem they faced for their animals mentioned by the respondents ( 92%) were shortage (expensiveness) of feed followed by disease problem (3%) and unavailability of vaccine (1%) (Figure 2).
Perception of the society about the major infectious and zoonotic disease Rabies: About 9.6.6% of respondents are aware of Rabies. They all well have known as that Rabies was transmitted by dog-bites. The awareness level of the respondent about Rabies indicates that its transmission through dog bites was a well-known fact. The knowledge of Rabies as a zoonotic disease was 96.6% (Table 3).
Anthrax: Anthrax was known about 33.03% of respondents and the transmission route mentioned by the respondent 43.3% was ingestion.
Tuberculosis: About only 5.2% of respondents had known Tuberculosis. The knowledge and awareness of Tuberculosis as a zoonotic disease in the respondents interviewed was very low.
Foot and mouth disease: Of the total respondents only 0.3% of them know about foot and mouth disease.
Trypanosomiasis:The overall proportion of respondents that know Trypanosomiasis was 0.6%, few of them described Trypanosomiasis as a zoonotic disease that transmits to humans. Practical assessment of the respondent about veterinary clinic, vaccination & slaughter house All of the respondents agreed to treat their animal when they get sick out of which 96.4% of them have brought their animal into the veterinary clinic, while still, 3.6% prefers to use traditional medicine to cure the diseased animal. Regarding vaccination more than half of the respondents (63.5%) fail to vaccinate their animals regularly and (83.6%) have lack information/awareness about its importance.
Based on questions raised concerning the practical assessment of participants in the questionnaire, almost all 364 (94.8%) of the respondents have the habit of consuming raw meat and the majority of them practiced (99.2%) backyard slaughter in their home. In addition 360 (93.8%) of them consume raw milk (Table 4). Evaluation of factors affecting KAP on Veterinary Extension Service From Table 5 KAP of the participant were evaluated based on their demography include their sex, age, education level, occupation, and marital status. The result showed that knowledge-related vaccination male participants had better knowledge than females and participants who attained secondary and college had better awareness and perception on the advantage of vaccination this association was statistically signi cant (P<0.05). The current study also revealed that there is signi cant variation among the respondent (P<0.05) towards the zoonotic disease of Rabies in which widowed and illiterate had lower knowledge and awareness (Table 6).

Discussion
Based on the questionnaire surveyed employed about animal production, animal management, animal health and how to control the animal disease as well as the veterinary health extension services in the study area the result revealed that the majority of the respondent had their own local and more than one species at a time. Regarding training and presence of consultants, highest number of respondents explains the absence of good and accessible training about animal production and health. Respondents con rmed that shortage (expensiveness) of feed and presence of diseases are the front constraints of their livestock production and had a knowledge of estrous cycle and user of arti cial insemination as well as they used natural pastures and frequently feed supplement. Almost the entire respondent argued that the presence of animal extension services.
The current study revealed that the knowledge of the respondent in the study area about zoonotic disease is good in which comparable nding was observed by Girma et al. [27] who indicated that all respondents knew animals' disease can also affect humans. The most frequently known zoonotic diseases among the respondents in the study area were Rabies ( 96.6%), followed by Anthrax (33.07%), Tuberculosis In the current study about (96.1%) respondents have a high level of knowledge about Rabies that the modes of transmission mentioned by respondents were bites (51.8%), bites and contact with saliva (14.7%). The current result agrees with the previous nding from Shashemene [29] and the nding in Dodola Town that was reported by Gezmu et al., [30]. In contrast, there is a low level of awareness about the zoonotic nature of Tuberculosis (4.2%) as compared to the report of Girma et al., [27] who indicated that respondents in Addis Ababa mentioned bovine Tuberculosis (88.54%). The present nding is also lower than the nding by T. Dawit et al., [31] Jimma town who reported that the perception on the dog bite reaches 94.3%. The difference comes out due to information might be acquired more easily through media and human health extension service agents than in the current study area and extension service in the study area is low.
Concerning the treatment, they prefer for their animal about (3.6% ) of the study participants use modern (veterinary clinic) in which had high variation with the report of Digafe et al., [32] studies conducted in and around Gondar town, reported about (62.2%) of the study participants had strong beliefs in traditional medicine.
Regarding consumption of animal products like raw milk and raw meat, the present study revealed that the majority of participants (93.8%) and (94.8%) were used respectively, similar ndings were observed by Wario et al., [33] with (89.8%) and (99%) respectively. According to the current study, the perception of vaccination among study participants includes gender, age, kebele, educational status and occupation there was signi cantly (P<0.05) associated. Concerning the perception of Rabies as a zoonotic disease, there was a signi cantly (P<0.05) different level of awareness among the different respondent groups which can imply that they have different levels of knowledge about zoonotic perception of Rabies and transmission to humans by biting of dog. In conclusion, the present study indicated that all the stakeholders' should have to ful ll their responsibility to improve and distribute extension service among the community and awareness creation and training programs of Zoonotic disease transmission, treatment, prevention, and control should be provided to communities.

Conclusion And Reccomandation
The study shows that veterinarians were not much involved in veterinary extension services. As a result, the awareness of animal owners about animal production improvement and animal health and zoonotic risks of infectious animal diseases was not satisfactory. This is re ected by the malpractice of animal owners which exposes them to zoonotic diseases like consuming raw milk and raw meat and backyard animal slaughtering practices. There was no one-health approach implemented so far. Hence, to control zoonotic disease veterinary extension services and disease control programs need to be implemented.
Scheduled animal vaccination, raising community awareness about sanitary conditions and disposal of food of animal origin, understanding the epidemiology of disease and transmission and prevention should be applied. On top of this, multispectral collaborative one-health efforts need to be made among veterinarians and public health specialists to combat zoonotic disease.

Figure 2
Major animal production and health constraints in the area. A) The Pie-chart was drawn using the percent of respondents who selected each constraint. B) The Bar-chart shows the pattern of veterinary clinic distance from the residents. The average veterinary clinic distance from the farmer's resident was calculated.