PPR eradication In 2015, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and FAO formulated a pathway for the control and eradication of PPR worldwide. The goal is to have eradicated the disease by 2030. In 2016, Afghanistan was assessed as being in stage 1 of this PPR control pathway. The aim of the current project, ‘Vaccination of small ruminants against Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR)’, is to bring the country to stage 2, moving a step further toward eradication of PPR. Stage 2 assumes that the country is implementing targeted control activities in productive sectors which are either considered key for the national economy or are to be considered key for disease control purposes.
Three FAO/DCA PPR projects In 2015/16 and 2016/17, DCA already implemented two successful FAO PPR vaccination campaigns, the first being a pilot, reaching 270,000 sheep and goats; the second covering 4.5 million small ruminants in twenty provinces. The third PPR project started May 15th, 2018 and closed on September 15th, 2018, encompassing 24 provinces. This PPR III specifically targeted the animals that were not vaccinated in the previous PPR campaigns. All three PPR projects were mainly aimed at the nomadic pastoralists of Afghanistan, the Kuchi, owning the majority of the goats and sheep in Afghanistan. These Kuchi animals migrate through vast parts of the country and thus can be a major source of spreading of the disease over Afghanistan. Overall objectives of the FAO/DCA PPR projects were: § Small ruminants of Kuchi are protected against PPR § Kuchi are aware of the clinical signs of PPR, how to minimize exposure, and what benefits of preventive vaccination are
Outputs PPR III Project In the four months duration of implementation in 2018, DCA managed to:
• Select and mobilize 348 Veterinary Field Units in 24 provinces to implement the PPR campaign
• Train the staff of these VFUs in PPR vaccination, vaccine storage / cold chain requirements, vaccination registration, blood sampling, and PPR awareness raising
• Establish vaccine distribution centres
• Establishing cold chain facilities for keeping the vaccines between 2 and 8 degrees C, including cold boxes and icepacks for all VFUs
• Select 20,995 Kuchi tribe leaders (equalling 62,985 Kuchi households) as beneficiaries
• Have 2,638,868 sheep and goats vaccinated by the VFU staff
• Have 1890 blood samples collected to assess the baseline prevalence of PPR and 379 blood samples to assess the efficacy of the vaccination
• Organize 431 joint monitoring visits to VFUs in all targeted provinces, together with staff from MAIL, DAIL, Kuchi Department and FAO.
So, although being one of DCA’s smaller projects, the 2018 PPR project clearly demonstrates DCA’s capacity to efficiently and effectively organise a nationwide campaign by involving the extensive network of private Veterinary Field Units working in a public private partnership.