World Veterinary Day 2009

The World Veterinary Day was instigated in 2000 and has been observed annually on the last Saturday of April. In Uganda, we celebrated it for the first time last year. This year's celebration was much better than last year's.

In Uganda we have decided to dedicate a whole week, dubbed 'The Vet Week', to activities organised in various parts of the country. These activities culminate into the World Vet Day.

Below are highlights of some of the activities we had in The Vet Week:

• Press conference.
  
• Cattle vaccination against CBPP.
  
• Symposium - seminars, demonstrations and discussions.
  
• A school programme.
  
• Mass treatment of animals in a community recovering from the effects of more than 20 years of war.
  
• Ministerial statement on World Veterinary Day.
  
• TV Talk Show on national television.
  
• Grand celebration graced by a government Minister. Participants included local leaders, NGOs, veterinarians, farmers, veterinary students, school children and the public. After the ceremony, the farmers and veterinarians were hosted to lunch by the Uganda Veterinary Association with support from SPRING project, an NGO based in Northern Uganda. Traditional dancers entertained guests at the ceremony grounds.

In order to run all these activities successfully, we had to harness synergies from various veterinary-related stakeholders to whom I am personally grateful.

Watch this space for further details.