ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopia, Kenya, South Sudan, and Uganda have signed a cross-border Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly mitigate the spread of transboundary animal diseases (TADs) in the region. The MoU, signed today in Addis Ababa, aims to undertake joint disease surveillance and synchronized vaccination to enhance TADs control and livestock trade.
According to Ethiopian News Agency, disease surveillance as a preventive measure helps reduce animal health-related risks and major consequences of disease outbreaks on food production and livelihoods. The four countries agreed on a draft animal disease information sharing protocol, which was validated in October 2023. The signing of this protocol marks an important milestone for timely information sharing regarding the state of TADs across borders.
IGAD commends the financial support of the African Development Bank (AfDB), through the BREFON project, for this action. The IGAD Center for Pastoral Areas and Livestock Development (ICPALD) facilitated the signing of the cross-border MoU among the countries. According to a media brief issued by IGAD, the region is home to over 532 million heads of livestock, including poultry, presenting a huge potential for wealth creation and economic progress.
A large proportion of livestock is produced by pastoral and agro-pastoral systems in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) where mobility is part of the production system. Seasonal livestock movement involves crossing international borders, whereby TADs easily spread from one country to another. Moreover, control or management of TADs requires cooperation between two or more countries sharing a border to mitigate the diseases’ threat to the economic, trade, and food security of the affected countries.
A harmonized approach for cross-border area TADs management is important to mitigate further spread and economic losses. Cross-border area animal disease information collection and sharing with neighboring countries is essential to support effective and timely decision-making to prevent the spread of disease.