Museveni Calls for Increased Production of Foot and Mouth Disease Vaccines

President Yoweri Museveni has called for the manufacturing of more Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccine doses in order to deal with the contagious viral livestock infection. 

“You should make more vaccines because Uganda has a lot of livestock. Uganda has 44 million livestock,” President Museveni requested the Egyptian government. 

The President, who was accompanied by the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni, made the remarks on Sunday while meeting a delegation from the government of Egypt at his Kisozi farm in Gomba District. 

He said apart from the 16 million cows, there are goats, and pigs, among other domestic animals, which brings the number of livestock in the country to 44 million and all of them require to be vaccinated. 

President Museveni also welcomed the partnership between the Egyptian and Ugandan governments through NARO, saying that when they partner, research and the whole process will be faster, hence producing good results. 

The Egyptian government gave 10 million doses of Foot and Mouth Disease to Uganda at a subsidised price of 0.9USD or 90 cents.

The first consignment of 3 million doses was delivered last week and received by Senior Presidential Advisor on Special Operations Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba who was accompanied by, among others, Frank Tumwebaze, the Minister of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. 

It was the biggest consignment Uganda has received so far.

He also said that the Government is going to partner with NARO to build a factory in Uganda and to train Ugandans to use the country’s samples to get the fourth strain, take it to their laboratory for matching and they do complete mixing to get quadrivalent. 

Gen. Mohsen Azouz, the director of the Egyptian Veterinary Service Department, assured the President that the rest of the doses will be dispatched on time and the Egyptian government is committed to the partnership between Uganda and Egypt.

Dr. Anna Rose Okurut Ademun, Commissioner of Animal Health in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, said that the Ugandan and Egypt Governments will partner to develop Serotype SAT 1 from a field strain of Uganda to a vaccine strain to make a fourth strain. She explained that the vaccine has four Serotypes mainly, Serotype“O”, Serotype “A”, SAT 1 and  SAT 2.

The meeting was also attended by Bright Rwamirama, the Minister of State for Animal Industry; Maj. Gen. David Kyomukama Kasura, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries and Lt. Gen. Sam Okiding, Deputy Chief of Defence Forces.