Epidemics in areas where cattle provide milk, meat and draught power have a shattering effect on local economies and on food security. The deadline set for total eradication is 2010. If GREP meets its goal, rinderpest will be the first animal disease ever to be eradicated. It would be one of the greatest achievements in veterinary science and experts have compared it to the eradication of small pox. The worldwide drive to make rinderpest a thing of the past has left the disease in only a few isolated pockets around the world.
Experts believe that it now persists in southern Sudan, southern Somalia and and parts of Pakistan.
However, there are three other areas where there have been outbreaks of the disease within the past five years, and there is no certainty that it has been eliminated. These are the far eastern Russian Federation, the southern Arabian Peninsula and the Kurdish area along the border between Turkey and Iraq. FAO has warned that failure to wipe out these few remaining pockets of the disease could result in its widespread resurgence and high costs of containment. One of the key steps countries have to take when progressing towards certified freedom from rinderpest is cessation of vaccination, which obviously leaves cattle vulnerable to cross-border infection. Because of this, it is vital to keep momentum up in the drive to meet the 2010 deadline.