adminElita Chikwati Senior Agriculture Reporter
Zimbabwe is hosting a SADC 10-day training of veterinarians and animal health technicians to equip them with appropriate animal disease surveillance skills, prevention of emerging diseases, control of endemic diseases and enhancing livestock productivity and production in the region.
The workshop, which is being attended by animal health experts from the SADC region, is running under the theme “Strengthening surveillance capacity of animal diseases in Southern Africa”.
The training programme started on Monday and will end on November 16.
It was organised in response to the increase in outbreaks of transboundary animal diseases and zoonosis in Southern Africa.
Experts realised that early warning of potential disease outbreaks and the ability to forecast the spread of pathogens to new areas was a pre-requisite for effective containment of epidemic diseases, including zoonoses, such as anthrax, rabies, highly pathogenic avian influenza and rift valley fever and transboundary animal diseases threats such as foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever and newcastle disease among others.
Officially opening the training workshop, FAO sub-regional co-ordinator for Southern Africa, Dr Patrick Kormawa said the livestock provided animal protein that ensured food and nutrition security for millions in the region.
“Livestock production is also an important source of income and a safety net for hundreds of thousands of people, particularly rural women and youths, and is a significant contributor to agricultural gross domestic product,” he said.
“As a continent, Africa is endowed with vast livestock resources. In recent decades, the world food economy has seen a shift towards increased consumption of animal-source foods; and against the backdrop of increasing world population, urbanisation and globalisation – this provides significant opportunities for African countries.
“However, apart from a handful of countries in Southern Africa (Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa), which enjoy access to the lucrative export markets for meat, most countries have not been able to unlock the full potential of their livestock resources.”
Dr Kormawa said SADC countries were faced with challenges that included weak and under resourced veterinary services; lack of developed livestock value chains and related infrastructure; lack of appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks; and lack of technical expertise and capacities for effective animal disease control.
“Emerging and re-emerging animal diseases, if not adequately controlled, can have deleterious consequences on animal health and food security.
“As the lead inter-governmental organisation with the global mandate to end world hunger and ensure food security for all, (FAO) together with its financial partners such as USAID is actively engaged in providing technical assistance to countries to address these and related challenges,” he said.
“As many diseases of public health concern are zoonoses and they are often best detected and controlled at the source in animals.”
Online Reporter