Facilitators and Barriers to Community-Based Livestock Abortion Reporting for Rift Valley Fever Surveillance in Uganda: A COM-B Analysis

Rift Valley Fever Disease (RVFD) causes substantial economic losses via livestock abortion storms, yet community-based abortion reporting for early warning remains suboptimal in endemic settings. This study analysed the behavioural determinants of livestock abortion reporting to inform RVF surveillance interventions in Uganda. We conducted a cross-sectional study using qualitative data collection methods in Isingiro District, Uganda, employing the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation–Behaviour (COM-B) framework. We conducted 29 key informant interviews with national/district policymakers and technical officers and 17 focus group discussions involving livestock owners, abattoir operators, and local leaders. Transcripts underwent deductive thematic analysis using NVivo-12, with independent coding verification and member checking. Barriers and facilitators were ranked by frequency and thematic emphasis, and a comparative analysis was conducted across participant groups. The three most critical barriers were: poor community knowledge about RVF, with all confirmed cases initially submitted as Ebola suspects; veterinary personnel understaffing, with officers covering four or more sub-counties; and absence of post-reporting feedback, the most powerful demotivator. The three main facilitators were: mobile phone platforms enabling real-time reporting, existing community governance structures facilitating information sharing, and fear of economic and cultural livestock losses motivating reporting despite knowledge deficits. Comparative analysis revealed divergent perspectives: policymakers framed economic concerns macroeconomically, while communities experienced them as household-level losses. COM-B interconnectedness analysis demonstrated that the absence of feedback created disengagement, fear partially compensated for knowledge gaps, and single-domain interventions failed without addressing all three COM-B components. Our study recommends that sustainable abortion reporting requires simultaneous intervention across capability, opportunity, and motivation domains. Priority interventions could include: integrating reporting into Uganda’s electronic surveillance platforms, co-developing local RVF names with communities, establishing reliable feedback mechanisms, addressing veterinary staffing gaps in remote areas, and implementing no-blame reporting protocols. Effective RVF surveillance depends on reinforcing existing community structures while ensuring responsive feedback that validates reporters’ contributions.