Kenge, April 19th, 2025(CPA) – The mixed vaccination campaign against bovine pasteurellosis and symptomatic anthrax in Kwango province, in the south-west of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was launched on Saturday in Kenge by the national Minister in charge of Fisheries and Livestock.
‘I arrived here in Kwango province from Kwilu province with one objective in mind: vaccination. Kwango province, like Kwilu province where I was, is an agro-pastoral province whose wealth is based on agriculture and livestock. Livestock rearing presupposes the existence of herds (flocks), because if there are no herds, there can be no livestock rearing’, declared Jean-Pierre Tshimanga Buana, the national Minister for Fisheries and Livestock, at the launch. He added: ‘One by one, the speakers deplored the way in which livestock have been decimated by diseases known in veterinary jargon as zoonoses, so the health situation in Kwango province is not good. Two diseases are affecting us at the moment, bovine pasteurellosis and symptomatic anthrax (…) This disease affects 5 provinces in a bad way, namely Kwango, Kwilu, Kongo-central, Haut-Katanga and Lualaba. As the Head of State is sensitive to this issue, he has made fishing and livestock farming the productive sectors that create jobs and wealth as part of the diversification of the economy. That’s why they asked me, along with the Prime Minister, to make the rounds to launch this vaccination campaign so that we can put an end to this terrible disease that is decimating livestock’. His presence is proof of the importance that central government attaches to this very important sector, he added. He has come to transform this province, which has been hit by this disease, so as to give it a higher profile in livestock farming and put the disease out of its misery.
He invited livestock farmers to open up their farms to vaccinators to put an end to the disease, stressing that vaccination is free of charge. He also pointed out that there is not only vaccination, but also treatment against this zoonosis.
According to him, ‘this measure will put a definitive end to it’, before asking the Governor of Kwango Province to get involved.
To achieve this, he handed over a Jeep Land cruiser and 6 motorbikes to help the team of vaccinators get around, as well as other equipment, including 45,000 doses for pasteurellosis and 45,000 doses for symptomatic anthrax’. The governor of Kwango province, Ir. Willy Bitwisila Lisundji, pledged his personal commitment to the success of the vaccination in his agro-pastoral province. ACP/