The FAO and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) outlined a strategy to wipe out Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) by 2030, yesterday (31 March), in Abidjan.
PPR is currently present in more than 70 countries across south and east Asia, Africa and the Middle East and, if left unchecked, could be at a very real risk of spreading into Europe (according to FAO/OIE advocacy documents).
Until now, rinderpest is the only animal disease to have been eradicated, and as PPR is a closely related virus to rinderpest, and the technical tools to achieve eradication are already available, the FAO and OIE believe the a goal is realistic one. However, it will rely on political commitment to providing financial and human resources.
Bukar Tijani, FAO assistant director-general for Africa, said at the FAO and OIE International Conference for the Control and Eradication of PPR: "If the major achievement of eradicating rinderpest can be replicated for another major transboundary animal disease such as PPR, the positive impact on the livelihoods of farmers, food security for all communities, Millennium Development Goals and the United Nations’ Zero Hunger Challenge will be substantial."
The prevalence of PPR has increased rapidly in the past 15 years, after the first case of so-called goat plague was diagnosed, in the Côte d’Ivoire, in the 1940s. It can kill up to 90% of unvaccinated animals that it infects.
OIE director general Bernard Vallat added: "It is of utmost importance for the success of the PPR control and eradication campaign to count on robust and well-resourced veterinary services and vaccines that comply with the international standards of the OIE."
According to the OIE, PPR causes annual losses globally of between $1.45 billion and $2.1 billion each year – a figure that does not include indirect losses linked to restrictions on trade and livestock mobility triggered by outbreaks.