FAO trained animal health professionals on rift valley fever early warning and forecasting at country level
Early warning surveillance functions are being improved in Mozambique through training of 30 animal health professionals of which 50 percent are women. These trainings are aimed at building capacity to model, calibrate and integrate country specific Rift valley fever (RVF) information into the existing Rift Valley Fever Early Warning Decision Support Tool (RVF-DST).
The training was conducted with technical support from FAO HQ and the FAO ECTAD Regional Office for Southern and East Africa with participation from early warning, surveillance and reporting representatives from the animal and public health epidemiology departments (Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Health) from Mozambique, Rwanda and Madagascar and entomology department of the Ministry of Environment, the National Institute for Disaster Management (INGD) and the National Institute of Health (INS).
Rift Valley fever (RVF) is primarily a viral mosquito-borne zoonosis that principally affects animals but also has the capacity to infect humans, causing severe disease in both, that results in significant economic losses due to death among RVF-infected livestock.
The RVF Decision Support Tool (DST) is used to build capacity for early warning and forecasting at country level, and demonstrates how near real-time modeling, risk forecasting and digital innovation can enhance preparedness and anticipatory actions. Through the training, Mozambique was able to customize the tool with local country specific disease risk factors.
The Assistant FAO Representative for Programme, Cláudia Pereira, mentioned that “this workshop encourages interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation, knowledge and experience sharing and fosters strong strategic partnership that will allow the participant countries to implement best practices on the control of the disease to safeguard public health in our respective countries”, she said.
FAO is committed to continue supporting countries in their efforts to sustainably address public health challenges posed by zoonotic diseases.