15 countries pledge to eradicate goat disease PPR
07/04/2015
PPR is estimated to cause over $2 billion in losses each year, mostly in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and its elimination will improve food and nutritional security, especially for the more than 300 million vulnerable households who keep sheep and goats in the affected regions.
The disease also affects the goats’ skin, making them difficult to tan.
“We have a plan, the tools, the science, and the partners,” said FAO director-general José Graziano da Silva. “Eradication of PPR is not only within reach, but also in our hands.”
The plan developed by FAO and OIE is estimated to cost between $4 and $7 billion dollars over a 15-year period but savings generated by eradication are expected to quickly pay back the investment required.
The campaign will make PPR only the second animal disease ever to be eradicated, after rinderpest in 2011.
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