Disease control: FAO, Agric Ministry partner on capacity building

The FAO Country Representative, Nigeria H.E. Suffyan Koroma

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations (UN) through the Emergency Centre for Trans-Boundary Animal Disease (FAO – ECTAD), in collaboration with the Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) have recently conducted a three-day extensive training of animals and livestock stakeholders on how to curtail Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza ( HPAI) outbreak and other affiliated animal diseases that could be economically disadvantageous to farmers.

The capacity training was meant to forestall the reoccurrence of 2016 experience when poultry farmers in 26 states of the federation experienced bird flu outbreak that killed nearly four million birds, just as other Trans-Boundary Animal Diseases (TAD), like rinderpest, foot and mouth disease had in the past dealt a great blow on the livestock sector.

Also in 2006, the 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 have reportedly re-emerged with the risk of spreading rapidly.

All these had negatively affected economic status of the many farmers and the entire national economy in the past thereby threatening the food security and job creation in the country. And this was the spirit behind this three days training as it was meant to acquaint field staff from the veterinary and public health services on how to study and determine the complexities of animal diseases, with special focus on avian influenza H5N1 and H5N8 virus.

The FAO Country Representative, 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 saying it was important they are able to carry out an in-depth investigation of the source, causes, incidence and prevalence of every infectious animal diseases as he also inappropriate policy and regulatory frame for animal and livestock disease control.

 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) was commendable saying that “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”.