Dear Moderator and Colleagues

Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this forum. I am very confident that the history of PPR can be found in the next 10 - 20 years if concerted efforts can roll progressively.

I am Dr. Ayebazibwe Chrisostom, a Senior Veterinary Officer, Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industry and Fisheries in Uganda. I gained interest in PPR after the first outbreak in Uganda in 2007 and since then I have been involved in its diagnostics, epidemiology, research and control programmes.

A lot has been said by very senior colleagues. It is very clear that Veterinary Services are very dynamic and the concept has greatly changed. Nowadays, it is very had to get veterinarians fully committed to vaccinations against PPR in remote areas without handsome facilitation. The reason for this is that veterinary practice has failed to break even (especially on small ruminants since the cost of treatment may be the same as the value of the animal). Farmers want free services. For this reason, all PPR vaccinations in Uganda have been offered free of charge and through partnerships between the government, NGO’s/agencies and the Community Animal Health Workers. This has proved effective in controlling outbreaks and confining the disease in the Karamoja region (North – Eastern part of the country). The lesson learnt has been that vaccinations have to be coordinated every 2 – 3 years. This is expensive and in most cases vaccine procurement can be a nightmare leave alone the cold chain issues in the field. Thermostable vaccine becomes handy and more promising here. It is now clear that the pattern of the disease has changed – sporadic outbreaks that may disappear unnoticed (this may be due to having an appreciable level of flock level immunity).

We have noted multiple ailments (CCPP, goat pox, mange, Trypanosomiasis, Tick Borne Diseases, Foot rot, Helminthosis, Orf etc.) in PPR affected flocks. Seromonitoring as a means of assessing the success of vaccination programmes has also been a major challenge leave alone the difficulty of identifying vaccinated animals. Ear notching does not work since the farmers will have already clipped the ears!

PPR control will thus require good planning and set up of local, regional and international teams (practitioners – scientists – governments – organizations) and heavy long term investment. Governments and other stakeholders must appreciate that this is important!



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