1. Summary
The 106th FAO Council (June, 1994) authorised the Director General to establish a priority programme, the Emergency Prevention System for Transboundary Animal and Plant Pests and Diseases. This has become known as EMPRES. The plant component of EMPRES directs its attention to the desert locust while the animal diseases component addresses a group of epidemic diseases. The principles of this programme were endorsed and restated by the World Food Summit in November 1996, through commitment #3 of the Summit's Plan of Action.
EMPRES was created to meet the special emergency requirements of disasters caused by transboundary spread of crop and animal pests and diseases. Transboundary animal diseases are a serious hazards to the food security of many vulnerable livestock owning communities, and greatly restrict trade. National responses to these have often been far too slow and inadequate, and diseases have been allowed to spread widely, greatly increasing the ultimate control costs. EMPRES serves to stimulate the technical support which is necessary to ensure early warning and effective rapid responses to these diseases. A major thrust of its Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme (GREP), is to plan and facilitate the global eradication of this animal disease problem.
Central to the concept of a global system for EMPRES is the goal contained in World Food Summit Plan of Action for Commitment #3 which embodies the twin principle of effective prevention and progressive control of transboundary animal diseases. The challenge to the international community is to ensure that these principles are adopted by individual member countries in animal disease control programmes. FAO Member countries should be encouraged to improve national emergency prevention systems (i.e., national EMPRES) against epidemic diseases. A key factor in developing EMPRES at national, regional and global level is to foster effective surveillance and emergency preparedness for transboundary animal diseases. Two factors are crucial to the development of effective targeted surveillance, early warning and early response:
· an effective electronic communication network including, telephone, e-mail and Internet systems, and· a training programme for the national EMPRES liaison officer and Chief Veterinary Officers.
2. Rationale
a) The food security of many of the worlds' 800 million chronically undernourished people depends in a large measure upon the livestock which they own. This may be a direct or indirect dependence. Disease outbreaks have a serious negative impact upon this. The livestock products of meat, milk poultry and eggs are complemented by the indirect support to their food security gained from the supplies of dung for fuel, crop cultivation, draught power for cultivation and transport, and hides and skins for marketing or personal use.
b) These food resources are continuously available to the owners and the food security ensured by the stability of the livestock is a key to their survival.
c) The World Food Summit highlighted the impact of pests and diseases on sustained food production. Commitment #3 of the Rome Declaration on the World Food Summit Plan of Action reads: "seeks to ensure effective prevention and progressive control of transboundary animal diseases". This was in response to the Heads of State and Governments awareness of the actual and potential impact of these diseases upon sustained livestock productivity and trade in livestock and animal products. These are the principal concerns of the international community and the target of current strategies for assuring food security.
d) In June 1994, the FAO Council had approved the Director General's proposals to establish a special group within AGAH, EMPRES, to address these diseases. EMPRES has the mandate to establish emergency prevention systems for transboundary animal and plant pests and diseases.
e) These diseases are: "those that are of significant economic, trade and or food security importance for a considerable number of countries; which can easily spread to other countries and reach epidemic proportions; and where their control/management, including exclusion, requires co-operation between several countries."
f) EMPRES has an animal and plant disease component. The plant pest currently addressed is the desert locust, the animal disease component is designed to: "promote the effective containment and control of the most serious epidemic livestock diseases as well as emerging diseases, by progressive elimination on a regional and global basis through international co-operation involving early warning, early reaction, enabling research and co-ordination".
g) The impact of occurrences of diseases in relation to the world demand for animal protein, the greatly improved transport and communication systems, together with a widespread collapse of public services and privatisation, has become much greater. Political and demographic changes in Eastern Europe and elsewhere with globalisation of world trade in livestock products all increase their importance. Outbreaks of diseases have a serious negative effect upon trade in livestock.
h) The first EMPRES expert consultation in July 1996 recommended the grouping of EMPRES target diseases into three categories:
· those of strategic importance-rinderpest, FMD and CBPP.· those requiring tactical attention-Rift valley Fever (RFV), PPR, Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), African Swine fever (ASF), and
· evolving or emerging diseases-Classical Swine Fever (CSF), and Newcastle Disease (ND) in village chickens.
i) The initial thrust of EMPRES has been to promote the eradication of rinderpest, the most important of the transboundary diseases, from the whole world by the year 2010. The implementation of the GREP by Member Countries through co-ordination by regional organisation has involved all the four prime elements of EMPRES, namely early warning, early reaction, research and co-ordination. Thus the first EMPRES Expert Consultation was able to chart out the blueprint for the progressive eradication by the year 2010. The consultation also made specific recommendations for regional co-operation in FMD and CBPP progressive control. FAO through EMPRES has also supported national governments with technical and material resources to meet emergencies caused by epidemics of ND, RVF, LSD and ASF.
j) The next phase of the EMPRES Special Programme is to improve the Early Warning and Early Reaction Capability at Central, Regional and National levels. This should involve effective promotion of the concepts of effective prevention and progressive control of epidemic diseases so that FAO Member Countries themselves and their regional organisations give high priority to the imperatives of National Emergency Prevention Systems (National-EMPRES) against transboundary animal diseases.
k) Failure to identify an epidemic disease problem early leads to a failure to take appropriate containment and elimination action. Inevitably, this results in expensive and protracted control measures. On the other hand, reporting epidemic disease may have a serious negative impact upon the livestock trade of the country. This has led to under reporting and jeopardised successful international control strategies.
l) Emerging diseases which are transmitted by insect vectors are greatly influenced by cyclic changes in climate, which favour their emergence in epidemic form. Early warning of these changes can be derived from satellite data and used to drive prophylactic vaccination campaigns. An objective of EMPRES is to monitor this data (See Figure 1). Global warming may extend the range of many vector borne diseases and may greatly increase their importance. This can apply to tsetse, tick, mosquito and Culicoides transmitted diseases.
m) Early reaction to such emergencies may not be possible because countries are unprepared. They do not have the resources such as vaccines available nor sufficient funds to mobilise responses. Delays occur, which allow far greater spread of the diseases than might have happened had the initial foci been recognised/and met with an appropriate response.
n) Management systems for animal health in many countries have been decentralised. There may be no direct chain of command from a central headquarters which may delay and limit the effectiveness of responses.
o) Countries of Eastern and Central Europe as well as Central Asia are particularly vulnerable to the spread of transmissible animal diseases such as FMD, CSF and sheep pox. This is likely to follow liberalised trade, weakened public sector controls and inadequate surveillance and emergency preparedness.
3. Objectives
1. The development objective of the EMPRES programme is to facilitate sustained livestock production and trade in livestock and animal products thus contributing to food security and poverty alleviation.
2. The immediate objective is to stimulate the capability of member countries to effectively contain a group of transboundary diseases.
3. The target is to encourage member countries to establish EMPRES units in countries in which the transboundary group of diseases are endemic, which are affected by them, or are considered to be at greatest risk from them. Some prioritisation is required to select these. The prioritisation will be based upon selected criteria, they will necessarily be grouped.
4. A summary of the objectives, outputs and activities follows:
Objective 1: To ensure the food security of livestock owning populations
Output: Greatly reduced losses from epidemic diseases
Activities
· Create a national capacity for the implementation of the EMPRES principles for control of transboundary diseases· Create a regional or sub regional EMPRES presence to co-ordinate clusters of countries in their efforts to establish the above
Objective 2: To reinforce the ability of countries to effectively contain the most serious epidemic disease affecting livestock
Output
· A national commitment to minimise the impact of these diseases· The establishment of early warning capacity among livestock owning communities
· Improved communications to facilitate flow of information to national animal health services
· National contingency plans to allow rapid reaction to disease emergencies
Objective 3: To establish a global early warning system for epidemic diseases
Output: Open lines of a communicating network between central, regional, sub regional and national EMPRES Units by e-Mail
Activities
· Create a central data base at FAO HQ in Rome· Establish a predictive capacity and strategic control driven by up to date information
· Apply GIS and remote sensing satellite technology for prediction of spread of disease
· Monitor animal movement, populations, demography, geopolitical and economic data
· Use latest molecular biological methods in diagnosis and epidemiology
Objective 4: To promote a National EMPRES Unit for the early warning of transboundary disease, in countries which are affected by them or are at greatest risk from them
Activities
· Select priority countries and sub regions· Place up to date information technology in situ for epidemic disease control
· Train staff in information collection and data base management
· Train regional and district staff in disease recognition
· Outreach to livestock owning communities to promote reporting of epidemic disease
· Develop national contingency plans for disease emergencies
Objective 5: To improve the capacity of countries to react to disease emergencies
Outputs
· More effective responses to disease emergencies· Up to date inventory of resources necessary to mount emergency responses
· Standardisation of equipment required
· Emergency disease master plan prepared
· Emergency funding identified or contingency made for access
Activities
· Regional exercises in emergency responses to epidemic disease ('clusters' of countries encouraged to participate)· Weaknesses in national resources available for emergency responses identified
· National emergency disease co-ordinating committee
· Identify suppliers of vaccine for epidemic diseases
4. The EMPRES global network
a) EMPRES is a global concept involving member countries, regional organisations and various international agencies and organisations (see Figure 2.). Central to the whole concept is the active participation of member countries both individually and in regional groupings,
b) The country or region threatened by an epidemic disease is central to the whole programme. The country or region needs to develop appropriate surveillance and early warning systems, have an effective and transparent disease reporting system internally as well as to neighbours and to the international organisations especially the OIE and FAO (and the WHO where zoonoses are concerned). Coupled with this the country/region should have a practical emergency preparedness plan for the eventuality of an outbreak of an epidemic diseases which otherwise is either foreign or under control. Concomitant with such a plan should be the acceptance by member countries that sustained livestock production and productivity is only possible in the absence of certain epidemic diseases,
Figure 2. The global concept of EMPRES
c) The OIE is the world animal health organisation responsible for the dissemination of official information on the occurrence of transmissible animal diseases, the most important of which are the so-called List A diseases, which are of a transboundary nature. The OIE monitors the international animal health code and standards for diagnosis of transmissible animal diseases primarily from the point of view of trade harmonisation,
d) Regional and sub-regional organisations work towards developing an effective and common approach towards epidemic disease control in their geographical territories. The Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO), EC and OAU-IBAR are examples of regional intergovernmental organisations that operate on a wide regional/continental basis in the Americas, Europe and Africa. PAHO, through the Pan American FMD Centre (PAFMDC) and the Inter-American Institute of Food Protection and Zoonoses (INPPAZ), provides technical support to countries in the Americas. The EC develops and maintains the sanitary conditions necessary for an open market within the European Union, while IBAR manages the PARC among other activities. Regional organisations provide the appropriate forum for planning and implementation of the prevention and control strategies for transboundary animal diseases as envisaged through the EMPRES programme,
e) Reference laboratories and collaborating centres play an important role in the EMPRES global network by providing specialist referral diagnosis, molecular analysis expertise and undertaking targeted research. Reference laboratories are designated by FAO, OIE and WHO (for zoonotic diseases),
f) The Joint FAO/IAEA Division provides specific support to the EMPRES Programme by assisting Member Countries with the technology for diagnosis and surveillance of transboundary animal diseases, particularly those that have been classified by the first EMPRES Expert Consultation as of strategic importance, namely rinderpest, FMD, CBPP,
g) Donor agencies have a major role in EMPRES in that they often support epidemic disease control programmes, such as PARC in Africa, SAREC in south Asia and the Hemispheric Plan for the Eradication of FMD from the Americas. A sustainable National-EMPRES concept is likely to require donor support to member countries and regional organisations so as to ensure effective prevention and adequate preparedness against epidemic diseases as adopted in the World Food Summit Plan of Action, Commitment #3,
h) The FAO TCP has increasingly become a crucial player in providing timely early response to emergencies due to transboundary animal diseases,
i) EMPRES at the national, regional and global level needs co-ordination so that there is effective surveillance and early warning to permit early and effective early response to disease outbreaks so that they can be contained and prevented from developing into major epidemics. Responsibility for this must be shared by all the participants in the global EMPRES network.
5. Development of co-ordination mechanisms
The resurgence of epidemic diseases of a transboundary character, has highlighted the requirement for greater co-ordination of the control efforts on a regional basis. The existence of the diseases has a serious impact upon the agreements which regulate free trade. The security in trade of livestock and livestock products depends to a considerable extent upon risk assessment, and this in turn must be based upon good information and judgement. A key objective of the EMPRES Global Early Warning System (EMPRES-GEWS) is to facilitate this process through improved communications networks for disease information exchange.
The development of co-ordination mechanisms through which EMPRES may operate at national, regional and headquarters level is shown in figures 3 and 4. Consequently, within the EMPRES global network there are functions which primarily pertain to the international or global level, some which are primarily regional and those which are clearly a national responsibility. A strong synergism between the global and regional organisations is an essential prerequisite for a global EMPRES network and for effective national EMPRES.
Figure 3. Early Warning by FAO-EMPRES
Figure 4. Early Reaction of FAO-EMPRES
The functions of the Central unit would be to;
· create the hub of the EMPRES disease information network,
· support the Regional and National network of EMPRES linked epidemiologists,
· collect disease intelligence information, serological information, molecular epidemiology data, RSSD and other data and establish an EMPRES data base,
· establish International contingency funds to meet EMPRES disease emergencies,
· provide current EMPRES disease situation updates for each Region, on the basis of the above,
· organise and manage GIS inputs and disease mapping activities for EMPRES diseases,
· disseminate technical information related to the EMPRES diseases,
· define problem areas and facilitate research on EMPRES disease diagnosis and epidemiology,
· liaise with other international and regional organisations,
· develop training manuals, standard operating procedures for emergency response procedures and contingency plans to be used by EMPRES, and
· organise and manage Regional workshops, training seminars and other meetings related to EMPRES activities as required.
The responsibilities of the regional EMPRES Units could be summarised as;
· assess the existing institutional and technical capability within the region to provide early warning and mount effective emergency responses to transboundary epidemic diseases,
· assist in developing national capacity for early warning and emergency response capability in the countries in the region,
· define the problems which present the greatest risk within countries of the region and create clusters of those sharing the same problems,
· assist in the creation of national EMPRES units in the countries of the region linked with the headquarters in FAO,
· establish a training capacity for the national implementation of early warning systems, emergency responses and contingency plans in the region,
· assist in the creation of realistic contingency plans for each country for EMPRES group diseases. In particular try to ensure practical implementation exercises are carried out and that funding sources are identified for emergency use,
· assess the national capability (institutional and technical) and requirements for laboratory diagnosis and serology, and field tests for EMPRES group diseases,
· regularly assess the ongoing status of countries within the region with regard to EMPRES group diseases,
· monitor and co-ordinate efforts to record all livestock movements between countries in the region,
· network all relevant epidemiological information from the national epidemiologists, and develop predictive models based upon the following principles shown in figure 5., and
· organise training seminars, workshops and operational meetings as appropriate to the EMPRES activities in the region, or in response to emergency situations.
6. Development of a country focus
a) EMPRES should be country-oriented programme based upon a commitment to minimise the impact of EMPRES diseases and improve food security of their livestock owners. It is hoped that it would be nationally driven,
b) Effective surveillance, recording, and reporting at the field level are fundamental to national early warning systems. The improvement of the disease surveillance system depends on positive and effectual change at the local level.
c) EMPRES deals with transboundary diseases. Consequently, the concept of national emergency prevention systems is best developed on the basis of a 'cluster' of countries having common epidemiological situations. The identification of clusters of countries would be based upon,
· the role of the livestock sub sector in the agricultural economy,· the interest among local, national and regional stake holders to combat and prevent epidemic diseases,
· the socio-economic impact of transboundary diseases,
· the epidemiological situation in adjacent countries based upon epidemiological risk and biotope,
· regional livestock population movements and trade, and
· the technical feasibility to reduce and contain the disease problem.
d) National EMPRES Unit
Participating Member countries within each epidemiological cluster should be encouraged to set up National EMPRES Units each with a designated National EMPRES Liaison officer being an experienced officer selected by the CVO of the country. The person should be experienced in epidemiology and the management and control of epidemic diseases by vaccination and other means. It would also include support staff and a departmental epidemiologist. Some of the functions are depicted in Figure 5.
e) Role of the community and the private sector;
· The collaborative involvement of livestock owners, producers associations, extension workers, community-based non-governmental organisations and animal health workers is essential for the success of the National EMPRES units. They should be involved in seminars, workshops and discussions at which the clinical recognition and importance of reporting of EMPRES group diseases is emphasised. The latest computer based visual and other aids will be used in this training to establish a base for more effective early warning systems amongst the livestock owning communities.· The private veterinarians and the community based animal health workers can play important roles in the contingency planning for and mounting of Emergency Responses to epidemic diseases. Their potential to support public sector animal health services in these emergencies is considerable.
· Procedures for reporting any suspicion of EMPRES group epidemic diseases should be available to the above groups, and the lines for the communication of such information to the animal health services must be established, and
· The co-operation of the civil administration, police, army and other services who are likely to be involved in disease emergencies should be sought to assist the animal health services. Their roles should be clearly defined.
Figure 5. Some of the functions of the national EMPRES unit
