Museveni calls for aggressive fight against animal diseases

Jun 19, 2013

President Yoweri Museveni has urged authorities to sensitize the public on the use of animal chemicals saying that some chemicals become resistant after using them for a long time but the public do not know.

By Vision Reporter

President Yoweri Museveni has urged authorities to sensitize the public on the use of animal chemicals saying that some chemicals become resistant after using them for a long time but the public do not know.

The President also called for an aggressive campaign against cattle diseases including various forms of tick borne diseases, worms and Tsetse flies. Museveni who is a large scale cattle keeper, said that he was the first to risk his animals to immunize against Render Pest which people in his area at the time had resisted as well as de worming which they used to do on only sick animals leaving out the rest of the animals citing costs involved.

Museveni was addressing different participants at a breakfast meeting for stakeholders on tick control organized by the National Drug Authority at Hotel Africana in Kampala.

He called on an all the relevant authorities and stakeholders in general to comprehensively address the challenge of ticks and tick borne diseases in the country adding that most of these diseases can be prevented. He urged them to explore possible ways of dealing with resistance to drugs and developing drugs to counter enzymes which make acaricides resistant to killing ticks and to urgently address the problem so that it is solved once and for all.

"These diseases have been there I wonder why authorities cannot find lasting solutions either by partnering with international scientists or something else’’ he said.

Recently Museveni visited the Norbrook facilities in Newry - Northern Ireland, a British pharmaceuticals company and a global leader in the development of Veterinary and Animal Health Medicines.

He held discussions with Norbrook to devise ways to sustainably handle tick resistance to acaracides in Uganda. Norbrook is currently the leading supplier of acaricides in Uganda.

Resistance to a given acaracide or insecticide can be described as a reduction in susceptibility of a parasite to the acaracide or insecticide when it is used at the recommended concentration and according to all of the recommendations for its use.

Some of the effects of Tick infestation include blood loss, Hide/Udder damage, loss in milk yield, serious debility, morbidity and mortality, and tick-borne diseases.

Museveni also noted that with the increased number of herds of cattle in the country from 7 million to 14 million, the country can now gain much more if the challenges are addressed.

The President noted that once the tick problem is fully addressed, then they can embark on other issues such as pasture and nutrition, water and breeding so that the industry can thrive adding that once the indigenous cows are well fed they can produce good results in terms of milk production.

State Minister for Animal Industry Hon Bright Rwamirama said that the Ministry has put in place a task force to work on tick control and that there is a need for them to re-visit some policies and structures so that they can get a good outcome on tick control in the country.

The livestock sub sector performance is marred by serious constraints ranging from low productivity, pests and diseases and limited access to quality in puts and stocks. Live stock diseases are estimated to cause a significant annual loss of USD86.3 million annually of causes that are not natural but avoidable according to reports.   Recently reports from the cattle corridor indicate alarming rates of cattle loses from TTBDs related causes .Over 90% of cattle in Uganda are found within the cattle corridor.

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