FAO launches training for animal health service providers and frontline workers.
Juba – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, launched the first ISAVET program in South Sudan attended by key stakeholders.
This on-the-job training addresses critical skills identified through assessments needed to effectively conduct surveillance and intervention to animal diseases at the local level, focusing on improving surveillance through disease detection, reporting and response.
The initiative aims to strengthen the capacities of frontline personnel in early detection, reporting, and response to transboundary animal diseases and zoonoses, thereby improving the overall capacity for preventing, detecting, and responding to infectious diseases, including those transmissible from animals to humans.
“The Ministry will take full charge and assume the leadership of the ISAVET programme to strengthen the national surveillance system and improve detection and reporting of endemic, emerging and re-emerging diseases.” Said Makuei Malual, Under Secretary in the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries.
The launch was supported by the Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), regional office represented by the Regional Epidemiology Capacity Building Coordinator for Eastern and Southern Africa, Sam Okuthe. He highlighted the importance of disease control in the improvement of livelihoods through effective, efficient and sustained field epidemiological surveillance and emphasised on the need for strong public-private sector collaboration, supported by key stakeholders present at the meeting.
The ISAVET training underscores the critical role played by the livestock sub-sector in South Sudan’s economy. The Government has also ranked the livestock sub-sector as a priority under the National Livestock Development Policy, aiming to transform South Sudan’s economy to middle-income status by 2030.
There is a gap in the delivery of veterinary services in the country, making the ISAVET training a timely intervention. Inadequate human resource capacities and disease control infrastructure, as well as the porous borders, have resulted in high prevalence of livestock diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), peste des petits ruminants (PPR), contagious pleuropneumonia and tick-borne diseases, among others, resulting in severe health and socio-economic consequences.
Wilson Makuwaza, FAO Livestock Development Officer, who stood in for the FAO Representative, emphasised the need to empower frontline field workers to enhance disease surveillance. He noted that field veterinarians and para-professionals are crucial resources for intervening during disease outbreaks, ensuring One Health and optimal animal health, and strong economic growth in the livestock sector. The majority of people in South Sudan affected by these disease outbreaks live in the rural areas where the livestock play a key role in the provision of food as well as contributing to the household income. Thus, epidemiological surveillance, field investigation, outbreak response, communication and prevention and control of animal diseases are essential for building the country’s capacity to prevent priority transboundary and zoonotic animal diseases.
The programme is implemented through the Global Health Security Programme (GHSP) initiative with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The ISAVET programme provides “training through service” to Ministries of Livestock and Animal Resources by training frontline animal health service providers in disease prevention, detection, reporting and response to zoonoses and transboundary animal diseases.
Ahead of ISAVET program launch in South Sudan, the government has appointed a National ISAVET Country Programme Coordinator to lead the implementation process. Through government leadership, a National Steering Committee and Technical Working Group will be established within the first month following the launch to guide and support the coordination and implementation of the ISAVET programme.
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Contact:
Mary Nyanbul Gum Mading
National Communications Consultant
FAO South Sudan
Email: [email protected]
Yanira Santana
Emergency Reporting and Outreach Specialist
Bureau FAO ECTAD Africa
Email : [email protected]