The Sierra Leone Red Cross Community Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness Program (CP3) has on the 19th December, 2023 launched a vaccination campaign in two districts.

The campaign that was aimed at protecting ruminant animals such as goats and sheep from the highly contagious Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) disease was launched in Kambia and Kailahun.

It is also noted that this diseases have been a great threat to the livelihoods of small-scale farmers and the environment at large which needs an immediate intervention for which they have decided to intervene.

The exercise began at the Mambolo community centre in Mambolo Chiefdom, Kambia district which gathered different stakeholders that graced the event.

They maintained that, the CP3 Program is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and is being implemented by the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society and aims to strengthen the capacity of riverine and border communities in Kambia and Kailahun to prevent, detect and swiftly respond to disease threats, while preparing for future risks in the country.

The Sierra Leone Red Cross Society has increased awareness on the connections between animal, human, and environmental health by actively engaging communities with key messages and community-based volunteer-led surveillance through the Community Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness Program.