Gender and intersectional analysis of livestock vaccine value chains in Kaffrine, Senegal

Abstract

Among livestock species, poultry and small ruminants are of particular importance to rural women in low- and middle-income countries, as means to generate income, provide nutritious food for the family, accumulate wealth, and confer social status. Newcastle disease (ND) and Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) are widespread livestock diseases of poultry and small ruminants, respectively. While both diseases are vaccine preventable, numerous constraints limit the availability of and access to livestock vaccines, especially among the most vulnerable populations in developing countries. The literature on equity and effectiveness of livestock vaccine distribution systems has emphasized many of these constraints, however a gendered analysis and deeper understanding of the vaccine system remain insufficient. This paper applies a gendered and intersectional transformational approach, or GITA, to highlight how gender and other social factors affect the provision and utilization of vaccines for ND and PPR diseases in the region of Kaffrine, Senegal. We first articulate and describe the vaccine value chains (VVCs) for these diseases in Kaffrine, and then analyze the gendered and intersectional dynamics at different nodes of the VVCs, including actors at the national level, through the regional and district levels, down to providers of animal health at community level and the livestock keepers themselves. Our findings indicate that actors’ various experiences are shaped and defined mainly by rigid gender norms, location and remoteness, and to a lesser degree by other social stratifications of age, ethnicity, and livelihood. Given the significant role that gender norms play in the livestock vaccine value chains, differences according to the livestock species, regulation of vaccine administration, and vaccine distribution systems emerge as highly relevant for understanding barriers that women specifically face within the livestock vaccination system.