Uganda to vaccinate 44.5 million animals against foot-and-mouth disease

Uganda has announced plans to vaccinate about 44.5 million animals against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in a nationwide exercise scheduled to start early next year, a government official said Tuesday.

In a statement issued in Kampala, the country’s capital, Minister of State for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries Bright Rwamirama said the campaign, slated for the January-February cycle, will be conducted twice a year. It will replace the current outbreak-driven ring vaccination and targeted immunization in high-risk zones.

Rwamirama said the existing control measures have failed to stop recurrent FMD outbreaks, which continue to restrict animal movements, limit market access, and reduce productivity.

“While suitable for an endemic context, these measures relied on intermittent vaccine supply, resulting in approximately 10 percent of the susceptible animal population being covered and recurrent flare-ups,” he said.

He added that the alternative “test and slaughter” approach used in countries that have eradicated FMD, which involves culling exposed herds within a specific radius and compensating farmers, is not feasible for Uganda.

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“This approach is exceedingly costly, socially disruptive, and unsuitable for Uganda’s endemic scenario. The lesson is unequivocal: only sustained, large-scale preventive vaccination combined with movement control and biosecurity measures can effectively disrupt the cycle,” Rwamirama said.

He noted that farmers will share costs with the government in implementing the vaccination program. Farmers will pay for the vaccines, while the government will cover expenses related to vaccinators, storage, logistics, surveillance, and oversight.

FMD is a highly contagious viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, buffaloes, antelopes, and other wild ruminants. Uganda has experienced several FMD outbreaks in recent years. In 2023, more than 40 districts were affected, prompting the government to launch a comprehensive vaccination campaign covering 136 districts in May 2024.