February 17, 1986

Outbreak of cattle disease

By Poku Adaa

The Government of Ghana has placed restrictions on the mass movement of livestock in the country. The announce- ment was made late last year by the Ministry of Agriculture to the effect that only the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) has the authorisation to permit movement of livestock through the country. The Ministry has directed all security personnel at all police barracks and border personnel to ensure all movements of livestock are covered by the DVS's vet movement certificate. These restrictions are, according to the Ministry's announcement, meant to check the outbreak of cattle disease in the country.

It called on all cattle owners to arrange for vaccination of their stocks or face prosecution before public tribunals. "All cattle which are imported into the country are for slaughter and not for breeding purposes," an official of the DVS emphasised to a group of cattle farmers at the Animal Research Institute at Achimota near Accra recently.

Rinderpest is a highly contagious disease which affects cattle, pigs, sheep, etc. It first broke out in West Africa in 1960 and was apparently effectively controlled. It resurfaced again in 1983 when it caused extensive devastation to cattle populations in Mali, Burkina, Chad, Nigeria and Ghana. The effect of those outbreaks which led to the loss of countries thousands of cattle is the current rise in refugees- previously cattle nomads who are now moving down southwards in search of better lives.

In Nigeria alone, over 400,000 cattle died in the 1983 outbreak. Transmission of the disease occurs if non-infected stocks consume or come into contact with urine, dung and other dis- charges of the infected animals. That is why the spread of the disease is so rapid in the Sahel region where nomads keep moving their stock from place to place. It is also the rationale behind the recent Ghanaian Agriculture Ministry's restrict- ions on the movement of livestock.

Rinderpest control is by the use of vaccines which are scientifically and sufficiently developed. The 1983 serious outbreaks were dealt with by vaccination, mainly in Nigeria. The FAO provided nearly $1.6 million to support a massive vaccination campaign in fifteen African countries and sponsored a meeting of international agencies in Brussels in June 1983, where a blueprint for a total eradication campaign covering 30 African was worked out for implementation.

The total eradication of rinderpest need not be tackled by every country by herself in isolation from other countries. It requires the setting up and operation of regional immunisation programmes and quarantine posts at all national borders throughout the West African region. These should be supported by regional centres for research and control of the periodic outbreaks of the disease.

The many long years of drought and the spread of the desert in the sub-region have already depleted cattle populations and caused the now-occurring outflow of refugees towards the coastal Rinderpest, if not checked and controlled areas. will exacerbate the twin problems of cattle losses and refugees in West Africa.