By Prossy Nandudu
The agriculture ministry with support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Food Program (WFP), and the leadership of the nine districts of the Karamoja sub-region have embarked on mass vaccination of livestock.
Under the supervision of animal industry state minister, Bright Rwamirama, and a team from FAO, the vaccination is aimed at managing diseases such as Foot and Mouth disease (FMD), contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) for goats, sheep and goat pox (SGP) and PPR, also known as goat plague, among others.
Through vaccination, the ministry hopes to reduce the spread of diseases across borders, or transboundary animal diseases (TADS) which continue to take place in the Karamoja sub-region.
Mass vaccination that kicked off on Wednesday, October 11, in Kotido District, continues on Thursday in the districts of Moroto and Napak and is being financed by the European Union through the Strengthening Shock-Responsive Systems in Karamoja, Pro-ACT project.
The project aims at enhancing the resilience of households in Karamoja that experience chronic or acute food insecurity. In particular, the project is looking at risks posed by livestock diseases and emphasises the importance of early warning systems to prevent and prepare for outbreaks.
In addition to the vaccination, the campaign will be used to raise awareness of the role of vaccination as an anticipatory action to reduce the impact of transboundary animal diseases in Karamoja, and to jointly discuss the future of livestock disease control in Karamoja including developing an idea for the long-term approach to TADs control in the region.
Why Karamoja?
According to reports from FAO, Karamoja is classified into three livelihood zones linked to the arid nature of the area and dependence on livestock: It is divided into pastoral, semi-arid zones characterized by a prolonged dry season and erratic rainfall. It runs along the eastern border with Kenya, comprising parts of Kaabong, Moroto and Amudat districts.
Since 2001, there have been extended dry spells that have resulted in repeated crop failure and low productivity among livestock. The effect of prolonged dry spells on livestock is often aggravated by the presence of transboundary animal diseases.
There are several attempts to manage these diseases through mass vaccination, with the first conducted between 2008 and 2010 where 767,967 cattle and 1,447,308 small ruminants were vaccinated against CBPP and PPR respectively.
In 2016 over one million livestock were vaccinated in Karamoja, and in 2021 over three million livestock including goats, sheep and cows were vaccinated.
