PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government will launch a large-scale special vaccination campaign to effectively control the lumpy skin disease (LSD) in cattle in the province.

During the campaign, seven million cattle will be vaccinated against the disease.

The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Tuesday.

Ministers Taimur Saleem Jhagra and Mohibullah Khan, additional chief secretary Shahab Ali Shah, principal secretary to chief minister Amjad Ali Khan, secretary agriculture and livestock Israr Khan and others attended the meeting.

It was decided to ensure availability of trained manpower to vaccinate maximum cattle in the shortest possible time.

Mahmood Khan directed the finance department to provide the required funds for the purchase of vaccines on priority, and said timely prevention of the disease was the top priority of the government.

He said livestock was the major source of income for most of the people in the province, and any further spread of LSD could inflict huge damage on farmers. He also directed the livestock department, the district administrations and other relevant authorities to immediately prepare a workable plan to effectively control LSD. He said the provincial government would provide all the financial resources to prevent the disease.

The livestock department briefed the meeting on the measures taken for preventing the disease and said over 46,000 cases of the disease had been reported so far. Over 850,000 cattle have been vaccinated, while over 2,000 cattle have fully recovered from the disease. And, over 13,000 cattle were under treatment.

Similarly, more than 3.1 million cattle have been sprayed against the disease.

Published in Dawn, August 24th, 2022