The livestock and poultry sectors are an integral part of Nepalese economy and lifestyle. Livestock and poultry populations have continuously been increasing in the last decade in Nepal and are likely to follow that trend as the interests in this field is growing. Infectious diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD), Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR), hemorrhagic septicemia (HS), black quarter (BQ), swine fever, avian influenza, and Newcastle disease (ND) constitute one of the major health challenges to the Nepalese livestock and poultry industry. Vaccinations are an efficient means of preventing the occurrence and spread of several diseases in animals and birds. Considering this fact, the government of Nepal began the production of veterinary vaccines in the 1960s. Nepal is self-reliant in producing several vaccines for cattle and buffaloes, sheep and goats, pigs, and poultry. Despite these efforts, the demand for vaccines is not met, especially in the commercial poultry sector, as Nepal spends billions of rupees in vaccine imports each year. There is a need of strengthening laboratory facilities for the isolation and characterization of field strains of pathogens and capacity building for the production of different types of vaccines using the latest technologies to be self-reliant in veterinary vaccine production in the future in Nepal.

Poultry industry is one of the strong pillars of Nepal’s agricultural production system, contributing around 4% in the national gross domestic product (GDP). Nepal is self-reliant in poultry meat and egg production. This sector provides employment to thousands of people and has become a major source of income to rural people. Low investment cost, less manpower requirement, and quick returns attract many investors towards poultry farming and hence the population and productivity of poultry is increasing year after year. Different viral, bacterial, protozoal and fungal diseases, including influenza, fowl typhoid, coccidiosis and mycotoxicosis, cause tremendous economic loss to the poultry sector of Nepal each year. Vaccines can be an effective preventive measure against poultry diseases and Nepal government together with the private sectors produce vaccines against different poultry diseases. Still, poultry vaccine production within the country is not enough and depends on imports from other countries. Considering the continuous growth in the poultry production and constant threat of disease outbreaks, government of Nepal as well as private sectors should invest more on vaccine production within the country. This article explains the current status of poultry production and vaccine development in Nepal.

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A questionnaire based study was conducted in Tulsipur sub-metropolitan city to assess the community’s knowledge, attitude, and practice on zoonosis. A total of 177 participants from 19 different wards were purposively selected and requested to answer the questionnaire. The educational level of farmers was positively associated with their knowledge towards zoonosis (P<0.05) in which farmers with lower educational background had less knowledge about zoonosis. The respondents’ attitude towards zoonotic disease prevention & control was found to be statistically significant with the educational background. Among those who have a positive perception of zoonotic prevention, about 25.3% of respondents were having college and university education while 52.6% of those who didn’t have a positive perception of the zoonotic disease prevention were illiterate. The educational level of the respondents was statistically significant with their practices towards zoonotic diseases (P<0.05). Respondents who had lower educational levels consumed raw milk, dead animals and assisted during parturition and other animal diseases without safety measures. Community education and awareness programmes are to be defined and further investigations on prevalence and risk factors for zoonosis in such settings will be necessary to define intervention targets.