In accordance to the Animal Health Law approved in 2017, each soum has appointed a veterinary epidemiologist, whose main role is to monitor, investigate and report the disease situation and to organize control measures when an infectious disease is outbreaks. In case of FMD and PPR, s/he should be able to identify its occurrence and to determine where the infection has come from and may possibly been transmitted to. This information is used to determine the extent of control measures. In addition, such outbreak investigation helps to better understand the reasons for outbreaks occurrence (risk factors). Knowledge of these risk factors allow for more effective control measures.

In addition, veterinarians and other professionals such as traders, middle-men may well be one of these risk-factors of spreading diseases. This happens through close contact with livestock and frequent visits to livestock locations. Therefore, veterinarians need to act exemplary with regard to washing and disinfecting their hands, boots and cloths before going from one herder to another. These issues were part of the training on outbreak investigation. During the training, 359 veterinary epidemiologists in 295 soums in 19 aimags were trained.