Namibia joins regional efforts to combat foot-and-mouth disease amid South Africa’s vaccine push

Namibia is partnering with South Africa and neighbouring countries to contain its worst outbreak yet of foot-and-mouth disease, as South Africa ramps up vaccine supplies and enhances border biosecurity measures.

Namibia is joining regional efforts to contain foot-and-mouth disease as South Africa steps up vaccine supplies and border biosecurity in response to its biggest outbreak on record.

According to remarks by South African agriculture minister Willem Abraham Stephanus Aucamp at the Agri Limpopo Congress in Modimolle, Pretoria has already supplied 50,000 vaccine doses to Namibia, Eswatini and Lesotho to help neighbours respond quickly if infections spread. He said South Africa had imported 13.5 million doses over the past 18 months, with another 10 million to 12 million expected before the end of August.

The disease has prompted South Africa to widen vaccination and tighten controls after President Cyril Ramaphosa declared the outbreak a national disaster in February. In April, Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen said mass vaccination was showing encouraging results, with no fresh breakthroughs in vaccinated herds, and in June he approved new national control measures intended to give farmers and veterinarians a clearer framework.

For Namibia’s livestock sector, the priority is preserving market access while reducing transport disruption. The Livestock Producers Organisation says truck backloads from South Africa remain restricted, putting pressure on hauliers and producers. The Livestock and Livestock Products Board of Namibia has appointed AfriCompliance to assess South African disinfection facilities, with accreditation expected within weeks.

The Food and Agriculture Organisation warned in May that FMD was escalating across southern Africa, threatening food security and rural livelihoods.