President Yoweri Museveni has received a team of Cuban scientists led by Dr. Hector Luis Machado Morales, at State House, Entebbe. The team are on a 10-day visit to work with their Ugandan counterparts to develop a strategy of bringing Gavac, an anti-tick vaccine into the country quickly.

The Cuban scientists, accompanied by their Ugandan counterparts were led by Prof. Anthony Mugisha from the Heber Biotec S.A. Firm in Havana.

The two scientific teams are scheduled to work together to concretize the importation of Gavac vaccine into Uganda under emergency arrangements with a view to monitoring and evaluating its efficacy.

Prof. Anthony Mugisha informed the President that the Programme implementation will begin with the hard hit districts in the country, targeting 500,000 cattle.

Available research statistics indicate that Uganda is one of the countries hardest hit by the tick borne disease, with more than 30% of the livestock lost to the tick borne diseases.

State Minister for Animal Industry, Hon. Joy Kabatsi, has already constituted an inter-institutional team of scientists from Makerere University College of Veterinary Medicine, the National Agriculture Research Organisation (NARO), the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries and National Animal Genetic Resource Centre, to work with the Cuban team of scientists.