Editorial: health of nomadic pastoralists: new approaches towards equity effectiveness.

Nomadic pastoralists of the African Sahel, the high steppes of central Asia (including the Tibetan Plateau and Mongolia), parts of the Near and Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula and India use mobility to manage uncertainty and risk in arid and semiarid ecosystems (Scoones 1994). In these areas, livelihoods are threatened by drought, diseases, insects and war, among other calamities. Semiarid pastoral areas are estimated to constitute up to 36% of the earth’s ice-free land (Schwabe 1984). The populations of these areas engage in more or less continual movement of extended family groups with their domesticated animals, or in a semi-nomadic lifestyle alternating between a settled or permanent household and a temporary residence. These are mostly tents made of skins, felt, or palm leaf mats, occupied during the spring/summer or rainy season. Nomadic pastoralist populations are difficult to quantify but have been estimated to involve 50–100 million persons (Omar 1992). Livestock owned by nomadic pastoralist groups is in excess of 200 million head, primarily not only comprising cattle, sheep and goats, but also yak and cattleyak hybrids, camels, horses, donkeys and/or reindeer. In addition, dogs are owned by many pastoral nomadic groups.