BALZAC - Behavioural adaptations in live poultry trading and farming systems and zoonoses control in Bangladesh

This four-year project will study the behaviour of people working in the Bangladeshi poultry farming and trading system. It aims to identify the socioeconomic, cultural, and epidemiological factors that shape the structure of live bird trade networks in Bangladesh, and the types of changes in the network structure which could facilitate the emergence of zoonotic pathogens and influence their maintenance and dissemination.

Based on this understanding of the underlying system behaviour, BALZAC seeks to develop control and surveillance strategies tailored to the evolving characteristics of live bird trade networks. Employing an inter-disciplinary perspective, the project will involve a combination of epidemiological and ethnographic studies, an experimental design derived from behavioural economics, mathematical modelling and policy consultation. Avian influenza viruses, and in particular H5N1, will be used as a model to study the traders’ and farmers’ responses to disease risk.