Wahyu Dwi Anggoro
IDXChannel - Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry handed over 500,000 lumpy skin disease (LSD) vaccines to Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture on Monday, 8 January 2024.
With the arrival of the latest shipment, Australia has provided a total of one million doses of LSD vaccine to Indonesia during the past year. This brings Australia’s total donation from 2022 to 2024 to 1.435 million vaccine doses to support the Ministry’s effort in controlling LSD in Indonesia.
Indonesia’s Chief Veterinary Officer and Director of Animal Health at the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr Nuryani Zainuddin, said control of LSD in the region was a shared priority.
“LSD and foot-and-mouth disease present significant biosecurity threats,” Dr Nuryani said in a media release on Tuesday (9/1/2024).
“As a result, it is imperative that we continue to build on progress so far towards getting these outbreaks under control. We thank Australia for its ongoing biosecurity cooperation with Indonesia and for this latest donation of vaccines," she added.
Agriculture Counsellor at the Australian Embassy, Dane Roberts, said he was pleased to see the vaccines donated by Australia were helping.
“Over the course of the past year, Australia has supplied one million vaccines to our neighbours here in Indonesia – vaccines that are now finding their way into Indonesia’s cattle population and protecting farmers’ livelihoods,” said Roberts.
“Australia remains free from LSD. Given the close and mutually beneficial trade between Australia and Indonesia in beef and live cattle, it’s vital that we work together to combat these biosecurity challenges in our region and protect our livestock industries.”
LSD is spread by mosquitos, biting flies and ticks, and severely affects cattle and water buffalo. It affects milk production and produces sores all over the bodies of infected animals. (WHY)
