suspend vaccination and launch the freedom verification phase. Innovative programs to demonstrate the absence of infection were established, combining participatory approaches (Jost et al. 2007) with conventional epidemiological techniques. Progress in accreditation is illustrated in Figure 15.2. There is cause for concern, however, that not all countries will be accredited by the end of 2010 as rinderpest eradication is eclipsed by more pressing disease issues.
The Impact of Rinderpest Eradication Overview of Economic Impact Studies
Despite the success of the global effort to eradicate rinderpest, there is surprisingly little information on the scope of its benefits, beyond specific outbreaks or control programs. Most information relates to Africa, with little on Asia, and reliable data on livestock production and the economic impacts of disease control are in general difficult to obtain.
The most comprehensive study on the economic impact of rinderpest is that of Tambi et al. (1999), who evaluated the PARC program in a subset of 10 recipient countries. They estimated the cost of the program at ECU 51.6 million (including donor funding and national matching funds).14 Leslie and McLeod (2001) esti- mated that the vaccination costs under the program ranged from 5 to 33 percent of the total costs based on a per-unit vaccination cost of $0.09.