Foot and Mouth disease hits 51 districts, varying number of animals affected

The Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Fisheries has said that at least 51 districts have so far been hit with the disease of the cloven hooves animals, basically termed as the foot and mouth disease (FMD).

According to a statement from the minister Bright Rwamirama, a varying number of animals have so far been affected and several remain at risk.

The domestic animals susceptible to FMD have been identified as; cattle, sheep, pigs, and goats, while wild animals like Antelopes, Buffaloes and Wild Pigs are also most likely to be affected.

This according to Rwamirama will affect the trade-in animals and animal products globally.

“It is therefore important to control FMD in Uganda for our animals and animal products to access lucrative markets worldwide,” he said.

He said the ministry is also mandated to control FMD to achieve high-quality products for human consumption.

As a means to mitigate the disease, the ministry has procured 500,000 doses of the FMD vaccine from Kenya Veterinary Vaccine Product Institute (KEVEVAPI) which have been received and already distributed to affected districts.

“The criteria for distribution has taken into account the district herd size, prevalence of FMD in the district, width of the area and risk of incursion of the disease.

The ministry will also receive 200,000 doses of the FMD vaccine from Botswana while they have received funds to procure 3.5m vaccines.

In February this year, the government proposed a mass vaccination of animals around the country in anticipation of an outbreak of FMD.

Rwamirama said that Cabinet had approved a supplementary Budget worth Shs14.6Billion to procure vaccines to treat the Livestock.

Currently, Uganda has about 41million Livestock. Of those, 14.8million are cattle, 16millon (goats) and over 5million are pigs.