FAO and USAID strengthen Liberia’s capacity in animal health with veterinary equipment and supplies

21/04/2023

Monrovia - Shortage of veterinary infrastructure, equipment, reagents and consumables and trained manpower poses challenges for Liberia’s capacity to effectively prevent, detect and respond to zoonotic disease threats.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Liberia and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) handed over veterinary diagnostic supplies to the Government of Liberia at the handing over ceremony organized at Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL) in Fendell on 20 April 2023. The supplied goods are supported under the USAID-funded FAO project, which aims to address global vulnerability to infectious disease threats of public health concern and to strengthen systems to prevent, detect and respond rapidly and effectively to infectious disease threats in the One Health approach.

The supplied lab equipment, consumables and reagents will contribute to the work of CVL, which is responsible for collecting animal diseases samples, making laboratory diagnosis and informing the surveillance unit for the country to manage and control animal disease risks and outbreaks.

“We understand besides providing these equipment, our staff have been trained. We also understand the development of the National Laboratory Policy, Strategic Plans, and enhancing national training initiatives, among others. Your leadership, collaboration, and advocacy, we can’t thank you enough, FAO,” said Hon Leelia Andrews, Deputy Minister for Technical Services at the Ministry of Agriculture, on behalf of the Minister of Agriculture, Jeanine M. Cooper. We know sometimes you get tired because we are not coming with our own of support to match what you are doing, but we say we will get there,” she added.

“FAO support will not be there forever. So the ministry has to now think about the sustainability aspect of it. How do we sustain this lab and make it functional,” stressed Madam Njie Mariatou, FAO Representative for Liberia. She also thanked the Ministry of Agriculture for their collaboration and the donors, particularly USAID, who has been providing the funding for the FAO projects.

“It is quite an investment that FAO and her funding partner, USAID has made. The main goal of the lab is to safe guard human health and public health, because safeguarding animal health is the key to having a good public health system in the country. And these materials are here to help us strengthen the surveillance system in the country, the animal health surveillance system which feeds into the human health surveillance system” said Sabenzia Wekesa, International Laboratory Expert at FAO Liberia.

The veterinary diagnostic supplies strengthens the country’s capacity to prevent and mitigate the impact of animal diseases. Working together with the Ministry of Agriculture, USAID and other stakeholders, FAO’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) team will continue supporting the strengthening of the laboratory services and expand the veterinary laboratory network by decentralizing the services to the counties and districts in the country.

About the project

The activities are under the project “Supporting the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) to address Zoonotic Disease and Animal Health in Africa,” funded by USAID. The project operation in Liberia started in 2017. Since then the project successfully delivered the construction and furnishing of the epidemiology unit, the rehabilitation and handover of the Central Veterinary Laboratory at Fendell, capacity building of the lab staff, as well as the expansion of the veterinary laboratory networks with the establishment of a regional lab and an animal quarantine centre located at Ganta in Nimba at the border with Guinea.