FAO donates equipment worth Shs184m to fight Rift Valley Fever

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has donated to government assorted personal protective gear and laboratory equipment worth Shs184m to help in the fight against Rift Valley Fever.

The equipment including; coverall, boots cover, examination gloves and laboratory coats among others were given to the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) on Tuesday.

The state Minister for Animal Industry, Bright Rwamirama, said the government of Uganda is vesting a lot in food and nutrition security and that animal proteins is becoming a serious matter.

“The equipment received from FAO is to make sure we protect veterinary officers and to ensure that we provide to the population safe animal products. 70 per cent of the human diseases are of animal origin and therefore it is important to prevent animals from getting diseases. We thank FAO for supporting this cause,” he said.

Mr Rwamirama also noted that this isn’t the first time FAO is supporting Uganda mostly in the area of animal industry.

“We are about to receive 200,000 vaccines to fight foot and mouth disease (FMD) and this will enable us provide safe animal products to our population and also increase our exports,” he added.

FAO representative to Uganda Mr Antonio Querido said: “There’s an eminent danger of Rift Valley Fever according to our early warning system. The social-economic impacts of RVF include animal and human deaths, disruption of livestock market chains and inability of pastoralists to achieve their daily demands among others.”

He said FAO is considering getting intends to find the best intervention approaches towards improved animal health and production.