SADC Conference Kicks Off at Katima - by Reagan Malumo
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KATIMA MULILO - Animal health experts from various SADC countries converged at Katima Mulilo Tuesday for the Trans-Boundary Animal Disease (TAD) control conference.
Caprivi Regional Governor Leonard Mwilima expressed appreciation to organizers for having chosen the Caprivi Region as host of the workshop. He said the Caprivi Region, being the transit route to different SADC nations, has been more susceptible to TADs and hence a need for better disease control.
According to State Veterinarian in the Epidemiology Section of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, Dr Alec Bishi, TADs are epidemic diseases which are highly contagious or transmissible, and have the potential for rapid spread, irrespective of national borders, causing serious socio-economic and possibly public health consequences.
The SADC region has been experiencing TADs for decades, which threatens food security, increases poverty levels to communities and causes major production losses, thereby reducing farm incomes.
Bishi said some of the major challenges that have faced the region in fighting TADs are increased changes in the production environment such as the narrowing interface between wildlife and domestic animals.
The changing international marketing requirements, increasing trans-frontier movements driven by price differences, socio-cultural links, grazing and water requirement compounded by artificial boundaries, recurrent droughts, socio-economic differences across boundaries, transhumance and nomadism, including lack of popularity and acceptance of veterinary measures, are some of the major challenges.
Further, SADC also still faces the increase in the trans-frontier movement of skilled personnel from areas of low incomes to countries with high incomes - Europe, America and Australia.
Meanwhile, Governor Mwilima said the fact that his region has been battling the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease for a year and a half now is evidence that the region itself needs to be at the centre of the conference's discussions. Apart from foot-and-month disease, the Caprivi Region has been vulnerable to outbreaks of lung sickness and anthrax, which has wiped out hundreds of livestock during the past years.
These diseases are believed to be a result of cross-boundary transmission through human and animal movement. Mwilima said the occurrence of these diseases has devastated the livelihood of the region's inhabitants.
"Many families have been deprived of their main sources of income as they have been unable to sell their livestock or move livestock for ploughing and breeding purposes," explained Mwilima.
He stressed that the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the region has cost the state N$36 million and that above all, the outbreak has prompted the closure of the only abattoir in the region Meatco, causing additional threats in terms of job losses.
Mwilima said the only way these diseases would be eliminated is through regional cooperation. He said though the Caprivi has benefited immensely from the tourism industry, many residents of the region view the sector as a threat to their livestock farming. Most of them are convinced that wild animals such as buffalos are major carriers of disease and a threat to their livestock.
It is against this background that Governor Mwilima expects the workshop to find solutions to this conflict as well as politicians.
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Caprivi Regional Governor Leonard Mwilima expressed appreciation to organizers for having chosen the Caprivi Region as host of the workshop. He said the Caprivi Region, being the transit route to different SADC nations, has been more susceptible to TADs and hence a need for better disease control.
According to State Veterinarian in the Epidemiology Section of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, Dr Alec Bishi, TADs are epidemic diseases which are highly contagious or transmissible, and have the potential for rapid spread, irrespective of national borders, causing serious socio-economic and possibly public health consequences.
The SADC region has been experiencing TADs for decades, which threatens food security, increases poverty levels to communities and causes major production losses, thereby reducing farm incomes.
Bishi said some of the major challenges that have faced the region in fighting TADs are increased changes in the production environment such as the narrowing interface between wildlife and domestic animals.
The changing international marketing requirements, increasing trans-frontier movements driven by price differences, socio-cultural links, grazing and water requirement compounded by artificial boundaries, recurrent droughts, socio-economic differences across boundaries, transhumance and nomadism, including lack of popularity and acceptance of veterinary measures, are some of the major challenges.
Further, SADC also still faces the increase in the trans-frontier movement of skilled personnel from areas of low incomes to countries with high incomes - Europe, America and Australia.
Meanwhile, Governor Mwilima said the fact that his region has been battling the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease for a year and a half now is evidence that the region itself needs to be at the centre of the conference's discussions. Apart from foot-and-month disease, the Caprivi Region has been vulnerable to outbreaks of lung sickness and anthrax, which has wiped out hundreds of livestock during the past years.
These diseases are believed to be a result of cross-boundary transmission through human and animal movement. Mwilima said the occurrence of these diseases has devastated the livelihood of the region's inhabitants.
"Many families have been deprived of their main sources of income as they have been unable to sell their livestock or move livestock for ploughing and breeding purposes," explained Mwilima.
He stressed that the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the region has cost the state N$36 million and that above all, the outbreak has prompted the closure of the only abattoir in the region Meatco, causing additional threats in terms of job losses.
Mwilima said the only way these diseases would be eliminated is through regional cooperation. He said though the Caprivi has benefited immensely from the tourism industry, many residents of the region view the sector as a threat to their livestock farming. Most of them are convinced that wild animals such as buffalos are major carriers of disease and a threat to their livestock.
It is against this background that Governor Mwilima expects the workshop to find solutions to this conflict as well as politicians.
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