Social, economic, and transboundary importance of foot and mouth disease quarantines in East Africa.

Although quarantines are vital for managing the spread of highly contagious livestock diseases, like foot and mouth disease (FMD) in East Africa, they can also create burdens for rural households whose livelihoods rely on the mobility and sale of their animals. In this paper, we used novel data from an outbreak of FMD to evaluate the importance of Ugandan livestock quarantines for 231 rural, livestock-owning households at the border of Uganda and Tanzania. Summary statistics and multivariate probit models evaluate the transboundary effects of quarantine restrictions on movement (human and international livestock movements, grazing) and sales (livestock products, live animals) and their relationship to household characteristics, country, and FMD virus infection. Results suggest that livestock movements and sales of live animals were important across both Tanzania and Uganda despite formal quarantine policies only in Uganda. FMD was strongly associated with quarantine restrictions, aligning with biosecurity goals, but households led by men and income diversity were also related to movements and grazing. Empirically, the results extend prior evidence from the study areas to show that herd infections shape the transboundary impact of public biosecurity practices but that differences between households can further affect quarantine response. Additional research is needed on connecting quarantine practices to specific changes in household biosecurity and exploring ways to minimize inequalities in disease response.