The lack of vaccination coverage across the entire municipality of Ombadja, southern Cunene Province, for three consecutive years, is jeopardizing the health of cattle, one of the region's main goods.
Of a total of 340,000 heads of cattle, for example, only 150,000 were vaccinated during the past year, while in previous years 21,532 heads of cattle were immunized.
During this period, 698 cattle heads, between bovines and goats, were affected by a symptomatic parasite and anthrax, of which 46 died, 907 less than in the previous period.
Speaking to Angop today, the municipal administrator of Ombadja, Hilário Sakelepo, considers the situation very worrisome, caused by the lack of vaccines and aggravated by the cyclical drought that is plaguing the region.
He informed that, in order to face the clinical picture of animal health, the authorities carried out a campaign of internal and external deworming, especially of the cattle that graze along the banks of the Cunene River.
According to the official, 33.476 heads of cattle and 18.874 goats were de-wormed in the localities of Xangongo, Humbe and Naulila.
Ombadja is one of the country's richest municipalities in cattle, with an estimated 400.000 heads of cattle, 483.000 goats, 31.403 pigs, 26.919 sheep, 5.167 horses, 9.372 donkeys and 267.672 birds.
