Mozambique needs another 800,000 doses of vaccine to ensure complete immunization of livestock against foot-and-mouth disease..

The information was provided by the head of the disease control department at MADER, Zacarias Massicame.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADER) has begun the process of importing a total of 300,000 doses, which will be channelled to the most critical areas, especially in the provinces of Manica and Niassa, influenced by the outbreak of the disease in neighboring Malawi.

According to the government, quoted by AIM, the 800,000 missing doses are not yet guaranteed and funds are being mobilized to buy them.

It should be noted that, according to the most recent livestock statistics bulletin released in April, the country had just over 2.3 million head of cattle by the end of last year, of which nearly 27.5% are in the provinces of Manica, Tete and Niassa, which currently have outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease.

Foot-and-mouth disease is considered one of the most important cross-border diseases of hoofed animals in the world, due to its rapid transmission and spread, with negative economic impacts due to restrictions on the movement of animals and their derivatives from one area to another.