The use of participatory modelling to inform management of endemic foot-and-mouth disease: A case study from Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia

Abstract

Management of infectious diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the endemic situation in smallholder farming systems brings significant challenges. While spatially explicit agent-based models (ABMs) are useful to inform disease response decision-making, complementary methods are needed to more fully capture the influences of context on disease control and management, such as human behaviour and ecological factors which are of particular importance for endemic diseases. We describe the development of an integrated Participatory Modelling approach (PM) applied to the control of FMD within Nusa Tenggara Barat, Indonesia, wherein participatory epidemiology and causal loop diagrams (CLD..