Africa-Press – Uganda. The government, through the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), has secured 613,000 doses of vaccines to treat Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD).
The vaccines were set to be officially distributed to the beneficiary district at the National Animal Disease Diagnostics and Epidemiology Center (NADDEC) in Entebbe, Wakiso District, yesterday.
In a May 23 letter addressed to the chief administrative officers and district veterinary officers, the Permanent Secretary in MAAIF, Maj Gen (rtd) David Kasura-Kyomukama, said 28 districts are expected to receive the vaccines under the first phase of distribution.
Maj Gen Kyomukama added that 1,761,000 doses are expected to be procured for the second phase where 73 districts are set to receive the drugs.
“The country has been grappling with the recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease affecting over 46 districts. This has caused major socio-economic problems because the restricted movement of animals and their products has disrupted trade in animal products as well as loss in production and productivity,” he said.
“The ministry has procured FMD vaccine for vaccination of susceptible animals to control the outbreaks as well as prevent future outbreaks,” he added.
In Budaka, the district veterinary officer, Dr Peter Owori, said they expect to get 15,000 doses of the vaccines.
Budaka is one of the districts that were put under quarantine following the outbreak of the highly infectious FMD Council.
“Following high symptoms of FMD which were observed in Budaka Sub-county and Lyama Town Council, the district in collaboration with the ministry decided, as a measure to curtail the rapid spread of the disease, to put in place a quarantine until all animals are vaccinated,” Dr Owori said in an interview on Sunday.
“The Ministry has procured vaccines that we are yet to receive today (May 27) to begin massive vaccination of animals. I know the quarantine had disrupted business but it is also good for both the farmer and the business people,” he added.
The outbreak sent farmers into panic, with many fearing that it could spread to surrounding areas.
Dr Owori said this is not the first outbreak of FMD in the district but despite vaccination measures, the disease still breaks out almost every year due to the transportation of infected animals from other districts.
Foot and Mouth disease is an infectious and sometimes fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals. The virus causes high fever for two or three days, followed by blisters inside the mouth and on the feet that may rupture and cause lameness in animals
Dr Owori urged farmers to take animals for treatment at gazetted centres and conform to the guidelines issued by the ministry to control the spread of the disease
A January 24 letter by the Commissioner of Animal Health in MAAIF, Dr Anna Rose Ademun, revealed that the outbreak of FMD in Budaka was reported to the ministry by the district on November 3, 2023.
On November 16, 2023, quarantine restrictions were imposed on Budaka District as per the Animal Diseases Act (Cap 38).
“Movement of livestock and their products and by-products from, through, and within Budaka District is prohibited until further notice. Livestock markets, slaughter places including butcheries, loading grounds and animal shows in the entire district are hereby closed with immediate effect,” the letter reads in part.
In the letter, local government leaders in the district were urged to enforce the quarantine to curb the spread of the disease.
The quarantine was later extended to several other districts as the disease spread.
However, cattle traders and farmers protested the quarantine, saying there were no sick animals.
“It could be good to control the disease but we will be affected in terms of income. That is our worry,” Mr Moses Mwigo, a cattle dealer, said.
Foot and mouth disease vaccines
Last week, the government revealed that the Egyptian government had given Uganda three million doses of the Foot and Mouth Disease vaccine to boost efforts to curb the current outbreak.
The donation followed a meeting held by the Agriculture minister and a delegation of Egyptian officials in which the plan to coordinate with Ugandan scientists to start makind FMD vaccines locally was discussed.
According to a statement by the National Agricultural Research Organisation, the Egyptian delegation said this would be the first batch of the 10 million vaccines Egypt is prepared to dispatch to Uganda.
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