Vaccination Against Neglected Diseases in Africa (VACNADA) Programme
The VACNADA Project is currently being implemented by the Livestock Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Food Security. The project is part of an initiative of the African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) and funded by the European Union with 70,000 Euros.
The objective of the programme is to reduce the impact of neglected diseases such as peste des petits ruminants (PPR) through increased access to and use of quality vaccines. PPR is a viral disease affecting sheep and goats that results in a high mortality rate. This disease is found all over the country and is a major constraint facing the expansion of small ruminant production.
The goal of the programme is to vaccinate small ruminants nationwide against animal disease for three years. The programme initially targeted four districts in Sierra Leone but with the intervention of the ministry it will now cover the whole country. The project is divided into three phases, with the first phase targeting 400,000 small ruminants, the second phase targeting 400,000 and the third phase targeting 137,000. The first phase is currently in progress and the second two will follow.
Achievements
Below are summaries of the number of animals vaccinated so far and the number of direct beneficiaries of the VACNADA Project. Despite these successes, the vaccination campaign is still faced with a number of challenges including " insufficient funds to carry out the exercise;
" farmer cooperation;
" transport constraints;
" inaccessibility of some rural areas;
" maintaining cold storage of vaccines during the vaccination process; and
" a shortage of trained staff necessary to carry out the campaign.
Table 1.Total number of animals vaccinated per District

NO.	District	Sheep	Goat	Total
1	Western Area Rural District	6,708	8,189	14,897
2	Freetown City Council	3,667	3,100	6,767
3	Port Loko	25,100	14,906	40,006
4	Kambia	7,916	9,277	17,193
5	Bombali	22,891	25,352	48,243
6	Koinadugu	22,991	38,229	61,220
7	Tonkolili	7,658	6,888	14,456
8	Kailahun	12,523	18,134	30,657
9	Kenema	5,415	11,010	16,425
10	Kono	14,187	12,011	26,198
11	Bo	6,069	9,101	15,170
12	Bonthe	5,349	8,744	14,093
13	Moyamba	8,400	10,204	18,604
14	Pujehun	22,520	18,450	40,970
	Total	171,394	193,595	364,989

Table 2: Beneficiary Population of VACNADA Project

NO.	District	Male	Female	Total no. of beneficiaries
1	Western Area (Rural & Urban)	1,057	808	1,865
2	Port Loko	556	400	956
3	Kambia	8,076	6,216	14,292
4	Bombali	1,923	723	2,646
5	Koinadugu	1,348	510	1,858
6	Tonkolili	1,601	940	2,541
7	Kailahun	767	448	1,215
8	Kenema	1,090	348	1,438
9	Kono	21,090	613	21,703
10	Bo	558	105	663
11	Bonthe	1,708	2,249	3,957
12	Moyamba	884	319	1,203
13	Pujehun	3,242	5,322	8,564
	Total	43,900	19,001	62,901