Veterinary Doctors and researchers successfully concluded the three-day workshop that was intended to review and validate the risk-based strategic plan for the control of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Uganda at Lake View Hotel in Mbarara City.
The engagement was attended by officials from the cattle corridor, organized by the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), and funded by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations under the Technical Cooperation Project (TCP).
According to Dr. Ben Ssenkeera the senior veterinary officer, the workshop successfully undertook a thorough review of the national risk-based strategic plan for the control of FMD in Uganda.
It also refined, finalized, and reviewed the risk-based strategic plan for adoption by all stakeholders as well as identifying critical areas and gaps for inclusion into the sustainable FMD resource mobilization proposal.
“The reviewed strategy from this workshop will soon be presented to the MAAIF senior sector management meeting for approval and adoption,” he highlighted.
Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) is an acute infectious disease affecting different species of ruminants and swine, caused by a virus of which there are seven immunologically distinct types.
It is a severe and highly contagious disease but is not transmissible to humans. Modes of the spread of the disease vary and can be aerosol routes, contaminated vehicles, equipment, and animal body products.
There are different genotypes within each of the seven serotypes and infection with one serotype does not confer immunity against another. Protection of susceptible animals requires specific vaccines against the circulating virus to ensure protection.
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