Presented at the IFPRI’s Food Industries for People and Planet workshop, Washington, DC, June 2017

1. Demand for porcine cysticercosis vaccine in
Uganda: lessons and insights
Emily Ouma, Michel Dione, Nadhem Mtimet, Peter Lule, Angie Colston, Sam
Adediran and Delia Grace
IFPRI’s Food Industries for People and Planet workshop in Washington, DC, June 2017

2. Importance of the pig sector in Uganda
 Main source of livelihood for
over 2 million smallholder pig
producers and thousands of
other value chain actors
 Rising pig population driven by
growing demand for pork
– Uganda has the highest per capita
of pork in Eastern Africa (3.4 kg
per capita)
 Zoonotic diseases, especially
porcine cysticercosis is a key
challenge to the sector
– Results in economic losses and
public health impact
0
2
4
6
8
10
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
kg/person/year
Per capita consumption of beef, pork and
mutton
(1970 - 2010)
Pork
Beef
Mutton
187 190
1160
1573 1710
3184
3600
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
1970 1980 1990 2000 2005 2008 2014
Animals x
1000
Pig population (1970 - 2014)

3. What is porcine cysticercosis (PC)?
Pork infected with cysts
 Pork tapeworm, (Taenia solium) is a zoonosis associated with pig
farming in Uganda.
 Human beings acquire tapeworm following ingestion of raw or
undercooked pork infected with viable cysts.
 It affects swine as porcine cysticercosis, through faecal infection
caused by the ingestion of tapeworm eggs dispersed by a human
carrier.
Cysts under the tongue of pigs
identified through lingual screening
Photo credit: ILRI/Michel
Dione
Photo credit: ILRI/Michel Dione

5. Significance of porcine cysticercosis
 The larval stage of the pork tapeworm (cysts) has for
decades caused direct human health defects:
– The cysts lodge in the human brain, eyes and
muscles causing epilepsy, blindness and paralysis
(estimated to result in 9 disability adjusted life
years (DALYs) per 1000 persons per year).
– High social impact, given the negative perception
of epilepsy in Uganda and other African countries
 It significantly lowers economic productivity of
infected pigs.

6. Significance of porcine cysticercosis
 High prevalence rates of porcine
cysticercosis reported from field
surveys:
– Average of 24% in five districts in
the Lake Kyoga basin
– 38% in Moyo district (Northern
region)
– 11 – 13% in high pig density areas
such as Masaka and Mukono
districts (Central region)
 Main risk factors that facilitate
transmission:
– Pig management practices (free-
ranging)
– Poor hygiene practices
– Open defecation
– Consumption of undercooked pork
Source: Nsadha et al, 2014; Kungu et al; 2016

7. Research motivation
 New vaccine (TSOL18) has been
developed for protection of pigs against
porcine cysticercosis.
 Field trials of the vaccine in Uganda by
GALVmed has proven its effectiveness
when administered in combination with a
drug, oxfendazole (Paranthic™ 10%).
 Oxfendazole eliminates cysts lodged in
the pigs before vaccination. Its also
effective against other internal parasites.
 Both vaccine and oxfendazole not yet
available in Uganda
TSOL18 (Cysvax) vaccine
Photo credit: GALVmed
Oxfendazole (Paranthic 10%)
Photo credit: GALVmed

8. Research motivation
Oxfendazole dosing in a young pig
Photo credit: KE Mwape, UNZA
 Primary vaccination in pigs given
from 2 months of age, and a booster
after 3-4 weeks (*3-4 months)
 Immunity develops within 2 weeks
of booster vaccination
 If pigs are on the farm 6 months
later, then a re-vaccination is
recommended
 The potential for marketing the vaccine and oxfendazole as a
private good is not yet clear,
– willingness of the pig value chain actors to invest in it and the
market mechanisms to incentivise uptake remains unknown
*Puodel et. al manuscript in preparation

9. Research objective
 To assess the potential demand for the TSOL 18
vaccine and Oxfendazole package by pig
farmers and demand for vaccinated pigs by
traders.

10. Methodology
 Application of choice
experiment methodology
(CE):
– To assess farmers willingness to pay
for the porcine cysticercosis vaccine-
oxfendazole package
– To assess traders willingness to pay
for PC-vaccinated pigs
 Priority attributes for the
willingness to pay design
identified based on literature
and field experience
– 6 attributes of the vaccine with 2 -
3 levels for farmer WTP
Identified attributes for
farmer WTP
A. Cost of the vaccine and
Oxfendazole
B. Administration cost
C. Pig weight gain
D. Price premium due to
vaccination
E. Frequency of vaccination
to attain immunity
F. Availability of a vaccine
viability detector

11. Methodology
 4 attributes of vaccinated pigs
with 2-3 levels for trader WTP
 The attributes and their levels
were combined based on a
fractional factorial orthogonal
main effects only experimental
design
Identified attributes for trader
WTP
A. Premium price due to
vaccination
B. Proof of vaccination
C. Market price of pig
D. Improved carcass weight gain
– 12 generic choice sets for farmers, each with 3 alternatives and a “no-buy
option” - blocked into 2 groups
– 8 generic choice sets for traders each with 3 alternatives and a “no-buy
option”
 Choice sets were used to construct choice cards with
pictorial profiles – factors influencing choice estimated using
a conditional logit model

12. Methodology
 Choice experiment administered to 294 pig farmers in Masaka
and Bukedea districts and 33 traders in Bukedea district.
 Example of a choice set administered to farmers:

13. Results
Attribute USD UGX Standard
Error
Vaccine-oxfendazole package
administration cost
3.7754* 13,591.4 1.9869
Price premium on vaccinated pig 0.4431** 1,595.2 0.2085
Low vaccination frequency (once at 2
months)
1.6651* 5,994.4 0.9287
Medium vaccination frequency (twice) 0.9723 3,500.3 0.7198
Weight gain 0.1217 438.1 0.4323
Vaccine viability detector 4.0111** 14,439.9 1.8571
Wald Statistic=4.78289
Prob. from Chi-squared [6]=0.0576
Functions are computed at means of variables.
***, **, and * denote significant variables at 1%, 5%, and 10%, respectively
Attribute implicit prices (willingness to pay values) for PC vaccine

14. Results
 Farmers are willing to pay:
– US$0.40 more if the vaccine results in an additional dollar premium
price for vaccinated pigs
– US$4 if the vaccine comes with a viability detector
 High WTP for a vaccine-oxfendazole package with a viability
detector
– Reflects existing quality uncertainty of veterinary products and
information asymmetry between buyers and sellers (depicts a “lemons-
market”)
 The trader CE results show that traders’ most preferred
attribute was high pig carcass weight gain
– Proof of vaccination and premium price attribute due to vaccination not
significant in the model.
– Weight gain can be achieved through appropriate feeding and
deworming regimes such as use of oxfendazole to eliminate parasites

15. Results: Farmers WTP for combined attributes of
the vaccine using compensating surplus model
Attribute WTP in
Uganda
Shillings
WTP in US
Dollars
% of farmers who
chose the vaccine
option
Base scenario (current vaccine attributes)
ADMIN COST PER PIG – USh 6000
PRICE PREMIUM – 15% of market price
VACCINATION FREQUENCY – twice
WEIGHT GAIN – 5%
VIABILITY DETECTOR – none
9,396 2.61 19.7
Scenario 1
ADMIN COST PER PIG – USh 2500
PRICE PREMIUM – 50% of market price
VACCINATION FREQUENCY – once
WEIGHT GAIN – 5%
VIABILITY DETECTOR - none
46,224 12.84 37.4
Scenario 2
ADMIN COST PER PIG – USh 6000
PRICE PREMIUM – 50% of market price
VACCINATION FREQUENCY –once
WEIGHT GAIN – 10%
VIABILITY DETECTOR - yes
60,984 16.94 49.0

16. Conclusions and implications
 Farmer CE results show that obtaining a premium price for
immunized pigs is a strong incentive to vaccinate pigs for
porcine cysticercosis
– Implication: The potential for marketing the vaccine as a private good is low
given that the current marketing system does not pay premium price for
“safe” pigs or reward food safety generally.
 Alternative is to have government take up the vaccine as a
public good with associated costs to be met from public sector
investments
– A purely public good approach may not be a sustainable option for Uganda,
possible private-public cost sharing arrangements could be considered.

17. Conclusions and implications
 Quality assurance concerns by farmers for the vaccine and
oxfendazole package – demonstrated through high preference
for a viability detector
– Reflects quality uncertainty concerns over existing veterinary
products in the market
– Has implications for the currently weak implementation of quality
assurance systems for veterinary products
Photo credit: ILRI/Michel Dione

18. Funding support

19. This presentation is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence.
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