The project "Controlling Transboundary Animal Diseases in Central Asia" (GTFS/INT/907/ITA) is funded through the Italian contribution to the Trust Fund for Food Safety and Food Security. It started its operations on 2 August 2004 with five countries participating - Afghanistan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It seeks to assist these countries to develop their capability to control the major transboundary animal diseases that can threaten food security by compromising livestock production. The emphasis will be on training staff in field and laboratory procedures for animal disease surveillance and diagnosis, and on assisting them to develop communication links with neighbouring countries to improve regional disease intelligence and cooperation. The major diseases referred to are rinderpest, foot-and-mouth disease and peste des petits ruminants.
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T. ALI |
The first priority is to encourage and assist countries to join the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) pathway by ceasing rinderpest vaccination and making a declaration to OIE of provisional freedom from rinderpest. Depending on the timing of the latest vaccination some countries might be eligible to apply to OIE for accreditation as being free from rinderpest disease (no disease and no vaccination for more then five years) or even free from rinderpest infection (no disease and no vaccination for more than ten years). Clearly, this project is of great importance to the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme (GREP), for whom lack of progress on the part of countries in central Asia in verifying freedom from rinderpest is a growing cause of concern.
