During 2015 Uganda reported frequent outbreaks of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) in several districts in the north eastern, southern and in the central region around Lake Victoria crest posing a high risk of spread to the entire country with possible spill-over to neighboring countries. FMD outbreaks were registered in the Uganda-Tanzania border districts of; Isingiro (May 2015) and Rakai (February and July 2015). In addition, FMD re-emerged in central Uganda in June and was reported in Nakaseke district in July 2015 and then rapidly spread to neighbouring districts of Luwero (July 2015), Kyankwanzi (July 2015), Mukono (July 2015) and Mpigi (July 2015).
Following the FMD outbreaks in Uganda, Uganda Government made a request to the African Union –Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) through the SMP-AH project for support towards implementation of a vaccination campaign against FMD in selected districts in cross-border areas and those at high risk. The SMP-AH project immediately considered the proposal under the framework for implementation of vaccination campaigns against priority diseases in cross-border areas and adjoining areas with emphasis on CBPP, FMD and LSD along the Uganda-Tanzania border discussed earlier during a regional cross-border harmonization meeting for Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda held from 25th to 27th August 2014 at Mwanza in Tanzania. Accordingly, Uganda went ahead and mobilized over 300,000 doses of FMD vaccines while AU-IBAR provided over USD 67,000 towards facilitating logistics and personnel allowance.
The vaccination campaign against FMD took place during December 2015 in 14 districts of Kiboga, Kasese, Mpigi, Wakiso, Kyankwanzi, Kiruhura, Luwero, Nakasongola, Rakai, Isingiro, Nakaseke, Masaka, Ntungamo and Mukono with the main aim of establishing a buffer zone. The vaccination campaign was coordinated by district vaccination teams together with teams from the Headquarters of the Veterinary Department in Entebbe under supervision of Dr Joseph Magona, a Veterinary Epidemiologist in SMPAH project. A total of 392,175 cattle, 9,719 sheep and goats and 2,258 pigs belonging to 14,201 households were vaccinated in 14 districts in Uganda.