African swine fever

Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD)
Asia and the Pacific Region

African swine fever (ASF) is a fatal disease of domestic and wild pigs of all breeds and ages with no effective vaccine or treatment. At least 60 percent of global pig production is concentrated in East and Southeast Asia, with the majority of pigs kept in low biosecurity smallholder farms with minimal resilience to disease incursion. ASF has affected pigs in many countries in the region, threatening the food security and livelihoods of millions of households that rely on pig farming.

As the disease becomes endemic to the region and expands into new areas and territories, efforts to manage ASF must constantly be adjusted to the evolving situation observed in the field. FAO ECTAD is using multidimensional, programmatic and collaborative approaches to combat ASF in the region, with key focuses on the following:

Strengthening veterinary capacity. FAO provides training for animal health officers at national, provincial and local levels through cascade trainings in virtual, hybrid and in-person modalities. Animal health officers learn how to detect and respond to ASF outbreaks and, importantly, can engage pig farmers to raise awareness and implement biosecurity measures.

Risk communication and community engagement. Raising awareness and engaging communities is of utmost importance to combat ASF. FAO produces risk communication and community engagement toolkit for people along the pig value chain (farmers, authorities, transporter, market seller etc.) translated into multiple languages. In addition, in 2022, a community intervention pilot was conducted in the Philippines to mitigate the risks of ASF, working with smallholder pig farms to co-create biosecurity interventions and providing training on good biosecurity practices. FAO will expand these efforts to continue this intervention until 2024.

Value chain analysis. Mapping pig production value chains is integral for designing risk-based strategies to prevent the spread of ASF and enable swift outbreak containment. FAO supports value chain mapping projects in multiple countries in the region.

Public-private partnerships. Effective control of ASF requires a united approach between the private and public sectors. FAO facilitates knowledge sharing between private and public sectors through various platforms while also undertaking activities to enhance opportunities for private sector engagement.

Economic and social impacts assessment. FAO undertakes continual monitoring of market disruptions, including commodity prices and the economic impacts of disease outbreaks. Additionally, methodologies are being developed to further our understanding of the livelihood impacts of implementing ASF control measures for smallholder farmers.

Laboratory capacity. Laboratory capacity is enhanced through training for personnel, facilitation of knowledge sharing, and granting direct financial support for procurements of equipment and reagents.

FAO also works through the Regional Steering Committees for the Global Framework for Transboundary Animal Diseases (GF-TADs) to deliver coordinated communication and technical guidance with regional strategic partners.

FAO will continue to explore opportunities to expand the efforts to other countries and communities to support Member Nations in reducing the risk of animal disease incursions and improve their resilience to animal disease outbreaks.