Gender and zoonotic pathogen risk in a resource-limited community at the livestock-wildlife interface, Mpumalanga, South Africa: a qualitative analysis

The Mnisi community is a livestock-dependent community neighbouring the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area in South Africa. Here, zoonotic pathogens contribute to as many as 77% of cases of acute febrile illness, including those associated with tick, domestic animal, rodent, and wildlife exposure. Previous gender-disaggregated analysis has shown that men and women have different risks of zoonotic illness, suggesting that exposure routes for zoonotic infections should be further explored to inform gender-sensitive risk mitigation strategies. Using a One Health approach, we focused on interactions between community residents, domestic animals, and the built and natural environment to investigate potential exposure pathways for zoonotic infections from a gendered perspective. We used an ethnographic approach, combining data from direct household observations and focus group discussions, to examine behaviours that may be linked to zoonotic pathogen exposure. Participating households were randomly selected from three villages under the leadership of the Mnisi Traditional Authority in Mpumalanga, South Africa. We conducted four household observations in each village followed by one male and one female focus group per village. Observations and discussions focused on previously identified gendered tasks such as domestic animal care, water collection, and food preparation, and how and by whom these tasks were performed. Data were triangulated across methods, and analysis included translation, transcription, and thematic coding using fundamental grounded theory. Observations and focus groups took place during July, 2019. The focus groups included 44 participants: 23 men and 21 women, mean age was 36 years. Mean household size was nine people. Observations were conducted in 12 households (four per village) for a total of 50 h. We noted gender differences for household tasks, animal care duties, and environmental exposure. Male gender-typed roles included cattle husbandry such as taking cattle to the bush daily for grazing (13 mentions) and slaughter of cattle (7 mentions). Female gender-typed tasks included household duties such as food preparation (13 mentions), household cleaning including sweeping the yard, taking out trash (10 mentions), water collection from boreholes or neighbourhood taps (7 mentions), and feeding and care of smaller livestock such as goats and chickens (4 mentions). Other emergent themes included decreased water and grazing land ava