FG Deploys Veterinary Teams To 10 States For PPR Surveillance.

A nationwide integrated sero-surveillance and sero-monitoring exercise is now underway across 10 focal states, driven by the formal deployment of field veterinary officers and epidemiologists.

The operation directly follows the conclusion of an intensive capacity-building workshop in Lafia, Nasarawa State, organised in partnership with the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR).

The field deployment marks a shift from preparatory training to operational data gathering, targeting five priority transboundary animal diseases - Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD), Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (CBPP), Contagious Caprine Pleuropneumonia (CCPP), and Newcastle Disease (NCD), alongside monitoring for Anthrax and Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD).

The Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria, Dr. Samuel Anzaku, said the initiative aligns with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, executed through the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development to reinforce livestock productivity, safeguard pastoral livelihoods, and advance the global mandate to eradicate PPR by 2030.

He added that the exercise covers 10 states strategically selected according to spatial distribution and risk stratification, including Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau, Ogun, Imo, Cross River, Kano and Katsina states. 

"Disease surveillance without adequate laboratory confirmation limits our ability to understand what is actually happening. We need current, geographically representative, and scientifically defendable evidence on where PPR is circulating, where susceptible populations are concentrated, and what level of immunity exists within our herds and flocks," Dr. Anzaku explained. 

He added that field operations were structured across four high-risk Local Government Areas (LGAs) per state (covering up to 40 designated local councils), utilising standardised sampling grids designed to capture migratory pastoral corridors, commercial livestock holdings, and smallholder village flocks. 

The resulting data will provide state-specific serological profiles, identify immunity and exposure gaps, assess post-vaccination responses, and inform future vaccination and other control strategies.

In particular, the findings will support reliable epidemiological and serological evidence for PPR vaccination planning, while contributing to stronger animal health systems and the protection of the livelihoods of small-ruminant farmers and livestock-dependent communities.


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