Assessment of Willingness to Vaccinate Animals, Pay for Vaccination and Its Contributing Factors in Negele-Arsi, Shashemene and Hawassa, Ethiopia.

Introduction: In veterinary medicine, vaccines help in combating various infectious diseases, thus maintaining the health and welfare of the animals. However, in Ethiopia, the use of vaccines has been hindered by multiple challenges, and the extent of willingness to vaccinate (WTV) has not been properly assessed.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out from December 2023 to February 2024 to assess the willingness of livestock owners to vaccinate and the factors affecting it in Negele-Arsi, Shashemene and Hawassa, Ethiopia. A total of 100 questionnaire samples (50 from Negele-Arsi, 30 from Shashemene and 20 from Hawassa) were collected from veterinary clinics in these areas.

Results: Overall, 38% of the respondents reported WTV for their animals, 36% of the reported willingness to pay, whereas 75% of the respondents also chose drugs as a control method for diseases compared to vaccines. Age, educational level of livestock owners and the rate of importance of vaccines were also shown to have a significant association with WTV (p < 0.05). As challenges, livestock owners mentioned that inaccessibility, high price of vaccines and harm caused by vaccines as the major obstacles they face when vaccinating their animals.

Conclusion: This study has demonstrated that the lack of awareness and knowledge about vaccines, coupled with challenges livestock owners are facing, are the obstacles hindering the vaccination of a vast number of livestock in the three areas. Therefore, it is necessary to address these problems properly to ensure the effective delivery of vaccines for the appropriate service of vaccines.