The vaccine shot that protected livestock in Morocco

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a cross-border disease caused by a virus that affects goats and sheep, severely compromising their health and leading to significant economic losses. Although PPR has historically been present in Africa, Middle East and Asia, its emergence in Europe has been intensifying in recent years. Between 2024 and 2025 alone, new outbreaks were reported to the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) in Georgia, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and Hungary. The latest first occurrence of the disease in a new country was reported through the World Animal Health Information System in Albania, on 3 June 2025. 

According to the new State of the World’s Animal Health report, PPR is not only controllable, but also eradicable. The Global Strategy for the Control and Eradication of PPR, developed by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), outlines a clear path to end PPR, where vaccination play a crucial role, together with capacity building, biosecurity and surveillance measures. Valuable lessons on how to use vaccines to tackle PPR can be drawn from countries and regions with long-standing experience in managing the disease, such as Morocco, in Africa.  

Vaccination is key  

The first occurrence of PPR in Morocco was reported in 2008, when more than 2,300 sheep and 200 goats died during several outbreaks across the country over a seven-month period. The response of the Moroccan Veterinary Services was swift and effective: from 2008 to 2010, 90% of the animals susceptible to PPR were vaccinated annually. Based on data analysis, serological investigations, and the regional epidemiological situation, the strategy was later adjusted. Since 2020, the Veterinary Services decided to vaccinate animals both for PPR and sheep pox once every two years, using a bivalent vaccine.  

With 22.4 million animals vaccinated in each campaign, vaccination has become a key tool to control the resurgence of PPR in the country, as Dr. Abderrahman El Abrak, WOAH Delegate for Morocco, explains: “In Morocco, as in other countries in the Maghreb and other African countries, animals are moved quite frequently. It is practically difficult to adopt a PPR control strategy based solely on sanitary measures, because controlling animal movements is very difficult, if not impossible under current conditions.”

This is why we believe that adopting an approach combining vaccination with other sanitary measures as a mean of controlling and eradicating a disease such as PPR is the most appropriate choice for our context, despite its cost, and the results obtained from this vaccination approach are perceptible. The use of effective, high-quality vaccines is also essential to the success of the vaccination strategy. 

Dr. Abderrahman El Abrak,
WOAH Delegate for Morocco.

Developing partnerships and trust 

A vaccination campaign against PPR costs Morocco an average 12 million dollars, with 75% of the budget allocated to veterinary workforce and the remaining 25% to vaccine doses, which are locally produced. Since the 1980s, Morocco has invested in developing its private veterinary sector, encouraging veterinaries to establish practices in rural areas. Their presence not only ensures regular support to farmers but also provides an effective network of professionals on which animal health authorities can promptly when vaccination campaigns need to be deployed.  

We have a well-developed private veterinary sector in almost every region of Morocco, which provides significant support in conducting livestock vaccination campaigns against several animal diseases, particularly PPR, helping us to achieve a very high vaccination coverage rate.

Dr. Abderrahman El Abrak,
WOAH Delegate for Morocco.

“Their support has been crucial in reaching our objectives, particularly in covering as many livestock farmers as possible at national level, as well as raising awareness and motivating farmers to participate in the vaccination campaigns.”, adds Dr. Abderrahman El Abrak, WOAH Delegate for Morocco.

The Veterinary Services have cooperated with Moroccan pharmaceutical companies from the beginning to produce a vaccine against PPR. As of today, two companies are producing effective PPR vaccines in Morocco. This enables the country to access reliable, field-tested vaccines at competitive prices, while minimising the risk of supply shortages during large-scale vaccination campaigns. 

Investment and cooperation are needed to succeed 

With the last outbreak officially declared over in December 2022, Morocco has demonstrated that it is possible to effectively control PPR through vaccination. This requires investments and preparation, made possible in part by the development of public-private partnerships. 

On the other hand, PPR remains a transboundary disease, closely linked to animal movement, as Dr. Abderrahman El Abrak points out: “Given the difficulty of effectively and sustainably controlling the risks associated with illegal animal movements across border, the only way to control this risk is through a coordinated regional and sub-regional approach to fighting the disease. In fact, a single country cannot achieve its goal of eradicating a transboundary disease like PPR on this own, as the risk of illegal introduction cannot be completely eliminated. Therefore, it is essential for other countries to implement similar control strategies so that we can stop the circulation of the virus across different regions. Without a coordinated regional approach to PPR control, it will be difficult for us to eradicate the disease based on our own efforts alone. That being said, PPR eradication is possible”. 

Read the full chapter on PPR in the State of the World’s Animal Health.