NAIROBI,Kenya,Sep 24— The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called for governments, development banks and private foundations to step up financing for the global eradication of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), saying a new Sh7.38 billion European Union pledge is intended to unlock broader investment rather than fund the campaign on its own.Global PPR Eradication Programme Coordinator Dr Felix Njeumi said the EU’s €50 million commitment was “catalytic” and should encourage additional contributions from governments and international financing institutions.“The EU said that it will invest €50 million, but it is catalytic,” Njeumi said during a high-level animal-health dialogue at FAO headquarters in Rome.He called on institutions including the World Bank and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to join the financing effort as countries intensify vaccination, surveillance and other measures against the highly contagious livestock disease.Njeumi also urged countries affected by PPR to commit domestic resources, warning that eradication cannot depend solely on international donors.“All of us have to work together towards the eradication of PPR,” he said.PPR, which primarily affects sheep and goats, can spread rapidly within herds and across borders.Although it does not infect humans, outbreaks can undermine food security, livestock trade and the incomes of millions of pastoralists and smallholder farmers.The EU has indicated that an additional €40 million, equivalent to about Sh5.90 billion, could be mobilised through blended financing, potentially taking the wider funding package to about Sh13.29 billion.The financing is expected to support vaccination, disease surveillance, laboratory capacity, veterinary services, vaccine supply systems and cross-border coordination.The funding push comes as governments and international partners seek to achieve the global eradication of PPR by 2040, following the successful elimination of rinderpest, another devastating livestock disease.Njeumi said PPR eradication could become a major animal-health achievement of the current century.“This will not be for those of the last century, but of our century, to be the ones saying, ‘Yes, we eradicated PPR,’” he said.The Rome dialogue brought together political leaders, technical institutions and financing partners to discuss PPR eradication and the control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease under the One Health approach.Representatives from Tanzania, Chad, Cameroon, Bangladesh and Burkina Faso attended alongside the World Bank, the Gates Foundation, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the EU and African Union institutions.Participants endorsed the Rome Call for PPR eradication by 2040 and stronger action against Foot-and-Mouth Disease.The declaration calls on countries and regional economic communities to develop costed investment plans, increase domestic financing and strengthen coordination across borders.It also calls for the EU contribution to be used as catalytic financing to attract additional support from governments, development banks, foundations and the private sector.