Ethiopia has successfully vaccinated over 24.5 million sheep and goats between 2016 and 2019.

26 September 2019, Adama - The control and eradication of transboundary animal diseases demands coordination and commitment of all stakeholders. This is the drive behind forging unshakeable alliances among the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), regional animal health services, non-governmental organizations, veterinary services of neighboring countries and sub-continental institutions like the Intergovernmental Authority for Development (IGAD) for achieving significant achievements on the ongoing combat against Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR).

With the concerted efforts of FAO, MoA and partners, Ethiopia has improved its Disease Outbreak and Vaccination Reporting (DOVAR) rate from 33 percent in 2015 to seventy five percent in 2019 and expanded the Animal Disease Notification and Investigation System (ADNIS) coverage from 280 sites in 2014 to 480 sites in 2019.

Moreover, Ethiopia has successfully vaccinated over 24.5 million sheep and goats during the January 2016 to April 2019 period and the technical capacities of 2,361 veterinary officers have also been enhanced on vaccine handling and management techniques in six operational regions of the project.  This has been possible through the support of the EU-SHARE PPR project (European Union’s Supporting Horn of Africa Resilience), which is generously funded by the European Union (EU).

Despite these remarkable results, the effort for the national eradication of PPR has faced challenges and hence FAO, MoA, as well as stakeholders have joined extra forces for redressing the gaps and strengthening their efforts for the eventual eradication of the disease from Ethiopia.

Challenges of PPR control and eradication efforts

One of the main challenges is weak coordination and harmonization on disease surveillance and vaccination among countries of the Horn of Africa (HoA) region. This is further complicated by the uncontrolled movement of livestock among neighboring countries in the region.

At national level, seasonal livestock movement, restocking of small ruminants by the ongoing emergency response operations and weak coordination among regional government veterinary services on surveillance and vaccination responses can be mentioned as another challenges. It goes without saying that shortage of vehicles for executing project activities in some areas as well as inadequate production and supply of thermo-tolerant PPR vaccines are affecting project performance as well.

FAO and partners adopt new approaches

In response to these challenges, FAO and MoA have organized the Seventh PPR National Coordination Workshop for three days in Adama, Ethiopia.

The workshop allows FAO, MoA and partners to discuss the achievements registered so far and the challenges faced in each project operational areas while rolling out project activities in Afar, Oromia, Somali and Southern (SNNP) regional states and the highland-lowland interface areas of the country.

Moreover, this workshop provides a window of opportunity for sharing lessons learned and exchanging good practices among PPR project implementing partners and stakeholders which manage animal health interventions on transboundary animal diseases.

Animal health, resilience building and achieving food security

In his opening speech, Ethiopia’s Chief Veterinary Officer, Alemayehu Anbessie, emphasized on the significance of coordinating and harmonizing animal health interventions by different stakeholders in order to make Ethiopia free from PPR by 2027.

He said, “Ensuring the health of small ruminants strengthens the resilience of livestock owners to emergencies and contribute to achieving the food security of farming and pastoral communities in all corners of Ethiopia”.

The Chief Veterinary Officer further stressed that cross-border animal health coordination is crucial for the consequential eradication of PPR from the HoA region and indicated that Ethiopia and Kenya have already started collaborating on Participatory Disease Surveillance (PDS), sero-monitoring, and vaccination against PPR in Turkana-South Omo, and Marsabit-Borana areas.

The FAO Ethiopia Livestock and Pastoralism Thematic Program Head, Gijs Vant Klooster, also highlighted FAO’s unreserved technical and logistical support for PPR eradication interventions in the country.

“FAO donated the first-ever thermo-tolerant vaccine production technology to the National Veterinary Institute for enabling the institute to produce 50 million doses of thermo-tolerant PPR vaccines every year,” Gijs said.

He added that FAO has also supported 30 vehicles, 51 solar-powered freezers and refrigerators, vaccination equipment, PPR pen-side rapid test kits and other consumables to regional veterinary services in order to support the ongoing disease surveillance and vaccination efforts.

Gijs urged all regional veterinary laboratories to fully exercise their regulatory role for curbing the spread of the PPR virus and all project stakeholders to focus their attention on cross-border PPR control and eradication.

FAO, through the EU-SHARE PPR project, shall continue to support veterinarians and animal health workers to further significantly address the health of small ruminants and help communities to safeguard their animals as well as ensure the sustainability of their lifelines.  

Contact:

Yonas Tafesse

Extension Communications Officer, EU-SHARE PPR Project, FAO Ethiopia

E-mail: [email protected]