THE Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has provided the government 3.9m doses of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) vaccines for sheep and goats inoculation.

Prof. Riziki Shemdoe, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, received the vaccines from FAO ECTAD Country Team Lead, Stella Kiambi, at the opening of a workshop on public and private sector animal health cooperation.

The ministerial executive expressed gratitude for the vaccines donation, affirming that the gesture complements government plans to boost the livestock and fisheries sector, with 28bn/- allocated for livestock vaccination throughout the country for the current financial year.

He urged other international organizations and private sector stakeholders to cooperate with the government in improving animal health, asking FAO to increase its donations to meet the number of vaccines for the total livestock population.

He similarly praised the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) on account of notification that they are ready to provide more than 3m doses while the African Union – Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) is also ready to help.

The AU-IBAR intends to deliver more than two million doses for cattle and other livestock vaccination, he said, remarking that “you can see that our stakeholders will have given us approximately 10 million doses."

Kiambi said that the UN agency recognizes that better animal health contributes to better human health, so it is beefing up cooperation with the government in its efforts to ensure animal vaccinations across the country, being rolled out in the coming weeks.

Dr. Samuel Wakhusama, the WOAH representative for Eastern Africa, said that the agency will be holding a workshop in collaboration with other organizations to find ways of eradicating viral infections affecting goats and sheep as well as rabies, by 2030.

"We want our countries to ensure that the animals that are sold are healthy and that those who buy them are sure of their safety. That is why we have met here to discuss with the government and the private sector on the way to finding a solution to prevent and control animal diseases rapidly," he added.