Peste des petits ruminants (PPR), sometimes referred to as sheep and goat plague is a highly contagious animal disease. Some wild ruminants are also susceptible to the virus. While the PPR virus has been detected in other animals, it only causes illness in small ruminants. Once infected, goats and sheep exhibit fever, anorexia, nasal and ocular discharges, difficult respiration, sores on the gums, lips and tongue, erosions on the nasal mucosa and profuse diarrhea.  Affected animals become depressed, very weak and severely dehydrated in a matter of days.  The virus can infect up to 90 percent of a flock of which 30 to 70 percent of infected animals may die.

The PPR virus does not infect humans, but its infection in animals has serious impacts on livelihoods, food and nutrition security and gender equality.

High mortality and the actions to contain the disease, such as depopulation of diseased flocks, movement restrictions and bans on the trade of small ruminants, their by-products, or even other agricultural goods hurt vulnerable farming communities and stifle the economic growth of all communities.

PPR affects livelihoods, food and nutritional security, women and youth employment. Some 300 million family farmers rely on small ruminants for food such as meat, milk and other products for income generation. Sheep and goats also represent an investment that poor families use in times of crises like natural disasters. Rural women’s livelihoods are particularly threatened, since women make up the majority of those caring for and raising small ruminants.

Direct and indirect impacts of PPR morbidity and mortality include:

• depletion of a household’s small ruminant asset base as a result of mortality and distress
• sales;
• reduced milk production in lactating does and ewes from infection and abortions;
• changes in flock structure because of abortions and deaths;
• forgone revenue by households and those participating in value-added activities postproduction;
• food insecurity and shifts in food sources;
• increased poverty and vulnerability of households;
• destitution, and reduced demand for household goods and services from markets;
• shifts in income sources – often with negative impacts; and
• costs of control by private and public sectors.

A PPR outbreak is an emergency due to its rapid spread and high animal mortality rate. Fatal diseases of small ruminants, such as PPR, affect the already vulnerable livelihoods and can decimate the savings of poor populations, in particular in pastoral areas. People become desperate when they lose their assets. PPR outbreaks, and the desperation due to the loss, can therefore trigger turmoil, migration, and volatile security situations.

PPR is currently present in around 70 countries throughout Africa (apart from the most southern countries), the Middle East, West and South Asia, China, Mongolia and Turkey, and, representing more than 75 per cent of the 2.1 billion global small ruminant population.

Arguments that support the PPR global eradication:

• Only one strain of PPR exists and therefore only one vaccine type is needed.
• PPR virus has short infectious period.
• There is no carrier status.
• The disease is mainly transmitted by direct contact -It’s not vector-borne.
• Although it infects many wild animal species, there is no evidence so far to suggest that PPR virus (PPRV) is maintained in wild populations.
• Availability a very safe and effective live attenuated vaccine that confers long-term immunity, after a single injection, for all strains of PPRV.
• Diagnostic tests are also available and effective.

Controlling and eventually eradicating PPR means fighting rural poverty, ensuring food security and nutrition, and strengthening resilience and national economies. It will contribute significantly to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 2 (zero hunger), but also SDGs 5 (gender equality) and 8 (decent work and economic growth).

Growing international consensus and political support for the eradication of PPR, technical feasibility, high rates of return on investment that span generations, and the proven FAO-OIE partnership in successfully eradicating transboundary animal diseases – such as rinderpest – are strong guarantees of success of the PPR global eradication.

The PPR Global Control and Eradication Strategy developed by FAO and OIE was endorsed in April 2015 during the international conference of Abidjan. To turn the strategy into action, FAO and OIE launched the PPR Global Eradication Programme (GEP) in October 2016. The PPR GEP encompasses a multi-country, multi-stage sequential process comprising epidemiological and socio-economic assessments, control and eradication of PPR virus and maintenance of PPR virus freedom. Each country is guided and supported in a tailored manner in building the capacity needed for the implementation of the five key elements of PPR prevention, control and eradication: the diagnostic system, the surveillance system, the prevention and control system, the legal framework, and stakeholder involvement.

Measures that support PPR eradication include vaccination, improved biosecurity, animal identification, movement control, quarantine and stamping out. These various tools are likely to be applied at different levels of intensity as a country moves towards PPR-free status.

Depending on the assessment and surveillance data, PPR vaccination should be time-limited with high coverage (aiming for 100 percent vaccination coverage to achieve the necessary herd immunity in high-risk areas) to achieve elimination of PPR. The vaccination protocol is based on two successive years followed by the vaccination of young animals (of four months to one year in age) during one or two successive years.. A total of around 1.5 billion animals are to be vaccinated during the programme. 

The currently available vaccines are live-attenuated forms of PPRV. These vaccines are highly effective, providing long-lasting protection. There is only one serotype of PPRV, and any vaccine strain appears to be able to protect against any naturally occurring strain of the virus.

One of the major limitations of the vaccines currently available on the market is their limited thermotolerance. This issue is being addressed by many laboratories, and the technologies that have been developed to improve PPR vaccine thermotolerance have to be transferred to vaccine manufacturers. 

Building on the experience gained from the successful rinderpest eradication campaign, the international community is aiming to successfully eliminate PPR by 2030. The eradication campaign will have to overcome challenges such as high mobility of small ruminants, access to remote areas, occasionally under armed conflicts and the safe delivery of vaccines.  The campaign will require the full political commitment of each affected country and efficacious national veterinary systems. 

The overall cost of the first five-year global programme is estimated at USD 996 million. This includes the cost for the vaccination of 1.5 billion sheep and goats (procurement of vaccines, logistics, and post vaccination evaluation), which makes up more than 70 per cent of this estimate. About nine per cent of the budget is allocated to the control of other prioritized small ruminant diseases, seven per cent to coordination and management of PPR control and eradication, and five per cent to assessment and surveillance. The remaining activities to finance include the strengthening of laboratory and of national veterinary services, the organization of regional roadmap meetings, as well as strategy, advocacy and communication.

The tools and knowledge are available to eradicate the disease – what we need now is the dedication of everyone, from veterinary practitioners and the official veterinary authorities, individual farmers, experts and policy makers to the world community of governments, regional and international organizations, and civil society. The private sector - who has the strongest interest in developing the small ruminant industry - will have a pivotal role in implementing and supporting the eradication plan on the ground.

National veterinary Services, veterinary practitioners, farmers, pastoralists, as well as with civil society and non-governmental organizations from PPR infected countries are involved. African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), African Union Pan African Veterinary Vaccine Centre (AU-PANVAC) and Regional Economic Communities (RECs) - in Africa, Asia and the Middle East – are also participating in the global efforts.

A wide range of resource partners, including bilateral donors, development banks, foundations, international organizations are presently contributing to PPR efforts.

FAO and OIE are responsible for the overall coordination and guidance of the PPR eradication programme.

The Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme (GREP) resulted in the recognition, in 2011, that rinderpest virus had ceased to exist in domesticated and wild animals. This remarkable achievement demonstrated that it was possible to eradicate an animal disease on a global scale.

It showed that with political will, country commitment and full cooperation, coordination by international and regional technical agencies and assistance from resource partners (European Commission, France, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Sweden, United Kingdom, and the United States of America), it is possible to globally eradicate a disease.

Eradicating disease is not just about controlling epidemics. It must be clearly understood that certain combinations of husbandry and trade practices, such as social organization or remoteness from veterinary services, will lead to stable reservoirs of infection from which it is difficult, if not impossible, to remove the virus by standard disease control activities such as pulsed, mass vaccination campaigns. 

Importance of epidemiological studies is paramount. These must focus on understanding sustained chains of virus transmission and how to interrupt them.

Together, FAO and OIE are coordinating the PPR global efforts of governments, regional organizations, research institutions, funding partners and livestock owners through the Joint PPR Global Secretariat, based in Rome.

FAO and OIE are co-leading the eradication of PPR in strong collaboration with continental and regional organisations, such as African Union Inter African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR), AMU¹, AOAD², ASEAN³, ECCAS⁴, ECO⁵, ECOWAS⁶, IGAD⁷, SAARC⁸, SADC⁹.

In collaboration with regional organisations, FAO and OIE organize PPR Regional Roadmap meetings to ensuring continuous assessment and monitoring of the disease situation, discussing challenges faced and progress made on the PPR GEP implementation, and promoting regional and epizone approaches, which are critical due to the transboundary nature of the disease.

FAO and OIE reviewed the PPR National and Regional Strategic Plans.

FAO and OIE launched the PPR Advisory Committee and the PPR Global Research and Expertise Network (GREN) in June 2017 and April 2018 respectively and assisted their bureau to deliver their mandates.

Based on it comparative advantages, FAO’s extensive field experiences are crucial for the successful eradication of the disease. This is not only based on the successful eradication of rinderpest and the management of other animal diseases of high impact, but also thanks to its experience and close collaboration with grassroots stakeholders particularly small livestock holders and pastoralists, even in very remote and poor areas. More importantly, in line with the Country Programme Framework (CPF) and the PPR National Strategic Plan (NSP) formulated in each country, FAO role at national level is crucial for the implementation of the 4 major areas as identified in PPR GEP as follow:

• Promoting an enabling environment and reinforcing veterinary capacities;
• Supporting diagnostic and surveillance systems;
• Eradicating PPR;
• Coordinating and managing the process at global, regional and national levels.

Animal production and health officers present in FAO regional and sub-regional offices work closely with regional organisation and assist in the implementation of the PPR programme.

FAO has a country office in any of the infected countries and in many of these, there are livestock officers or ECTAD offices that assist for the NSP implementation.

The joint division between FAO and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) historically has been paramount in technology development and transfer to countries in need of assistance, and are ready to contribute to PPR control and its final demise. 

In May 2014, the World Assembly of OIE national delegates adopted a Resolution with regard to global PPR control and eradication strategy, which is considered a global public good, and carries weight in seeking greater political commitments. 

OIE, working closely with national chief veterinary officers in 180 countries set up intergovernmental standards on PPR control method with the support of the OIE-FAO reference laboratory/centre network and has the system to officially declare countries that are free of the disease as PPR-free, as well as officially endorse the validity of national control programs that infected countries wish to implement. The first list of PPR-free Member Countries was adopted by the World Assembly of Delegates of OIE Member Countries during the 82nd General Session in May 2014 and included 48 countries. In May 2019 57 countries and one zone within a country were recognized as being free from PPR.

The maintenance of disease free status is as important as its achievement. Countries are required to present annually adequate reconfirmation of the absence of PPR infection and of the appropriate maintenance of surveillance and preventive measures to prevent and control PPR, including import requirements.

OIE PVS Pathway missions with a specific component related to PPR control, aligned closely with the PPR Monitoring and Assessment Tool of the PPR GEP, have been successfully piloted in Afghanistan and Turkey and then conducted in three additional countries (Burundi, Chad, and Nigeria) by early 2019

¹ Arab Maghreb Union
² Arab Organization for Agriculture Development
³ Association of Southeast Asian Nations
⁴ Economic Community of Central African States
⁵ Economic Cooperation Organization
⁶ Economic Community of West African States
⁷ Intergovernmental Authority for Development
⁸ South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
⁹ Southern African Development Community