FAO strengthens stakeholders’ capacity to conduct disease outbreak investigation in Nigeria using One Health Approach.

FAO strengthens stakeholders’ capacity to conduct disease outbreak investigation in Nigeria using One Health Approach.

In 2006, the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) otherwise called bird flu outbreak threatened the poultry sector in Africa and nearly crippled the livelihoods of hundreds of farmers in Nigeria. Within the last three years, reports of a more lethal sequence reportedly reemerged with the risk of spreading rapidly.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) through the Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Disease (FAO – ECTAD), in collaboration with the Federal Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), organized a three-day training to improve capacities of relevant stakeholders at the sub-national levels, to curtail the looming HPAI outbreak and other animal diseases as well as their consequences. In 2016, it was reported that poultry farmers in 26 out of the 37 states in Nigeria experienced the bird flu outbreak that killed nearly four million birds. While other Transboundary Animal Diseases (TAD), like rinderpest, foot and mouth disease had in the past dealt a blow on the livestock sector.

Collectively but at different times, these affected the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), threatened national food and nutrition security and caused serious job losses. For the HPAI, though first reported in Kano state, the new strain is easily easily contagious and more devastating to poultry species. Thus the concern that it may further spiral out of control. The training workshop aims to acquaint field staff from the veterinary and public health services on how to study and determine the complexities of animal disease, with special focus on avian influenza H5N1 and H5N8 virus. The FAO Country Representative in Nigeria H.E. Suffyan Koroma attests to the fact that a comprehensive approach to manage the threat of livestock diseases and build capacity of national and sub national field veterinary officers is desirable for the continent as a whole.

With the view to enable them carry out in-depth investigation of the source, causes, incidence and prevalence of very infectious animal diseases. “But more than diseases, other challenges are lack of appropriate policy and regulatory frameworks, fragmented and poorly organized livestock value chains and low capacities for effective animal disease surveillance, detection, preparedness and response to outbreaks, among others”, Koroma said. While commending the initiative to train the experts the Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) Olaniya Alabi noted that participation from the Ministry of Health and the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is laudable.

As “working together in the spirit of One Health and good understanding of associated risk factors are very critical for the prevention, effective containment, control, and possibly eradication of major zoonotic diseases”. The prospects ahead Though the sector has remained relatively under exploited for economic prosperity, it is said the poultry sector for instance constitutes nearly 60 percent of livestock production in the country. With a population of almost 200 million people, the demand for poultry products is huge.

The training is intended to build the Intellectual and Epidemiological capacities of the officers responsible for disease outbreak investigation; ensure that they understand and know how to organize and lead a multidisciplinary investigative team with relevant stakeholders; Improve their capacities in knowing how to utilize laboratory support and know how to give recommendations based on the findings of the investigation.

 A total of forty (40) Participants for the training are field veterinary officers from the federal and state service in charge of animal disease control and the medical doctors from Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) and the Federal Ministry of Health (FMH) to be facilitated by Experts from ECTAD Regional Office and the Epi Unit of the Department of Veterinary services.