A section of the Participants at the training

FAO Hosted Training in Geographical Information System Mapping and Risk Assessment for Enhanced Animal Disease Surveillance

Responding to the dynamic landscape of global livestock sectors and the escalating risk of zoonotic diseases, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) hosted a comprehensive training workshop in Accra, Ghana from 4 to 8 December 2023. Its primary focus was to enhance surveillance and control systems for transboundary animal diseases (TAD) and zoonoses through qualitative risk assessment and Geographical Information System (GIS) mapping.

Global livestock sectors are continually adapting to the evolving needs of a globalized society, inadvertently elevating the risk of diseases for both livestock and humans. Effective disease control measures necessitate strategic planning, especially in areas where these measures can yield the most significant impact. This planning requires an in-depth understanding of how livestock and wildlife farming systems, as well as animal value chains, interact with disease drivers.

FAO's decade-long collaboration with partners has been instrumental in providing timely and high-quality information on disease reservoirs and outbreaks to support decision-making for disease prevention and response.

The primary goal of the training was to consolidate the Spatial Qualitative Risk Analysis method and facilitate the preparation, update, and discussion of risk maps for the introduction, spread, and occurrence of selected Priority Zoonotic Diseases (PZDs). Participants are expected to assume a crucial role in a network of focal points at both country and regional levels, fostering data sharing, disease risk mapping, and early warning capabilities.

The targeted countries for the training included English-speaking countries such as Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, with 16 participants. Additionally, French-speaking countries, namely Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Senegal, with 14 participants. The training was co-facilitated in English and French by experts from FAO HQ and the ECTAD region.

Upon completion of the training, participants are anticipated to acquire an intermediate level of GIS skills applied in animal health. This includes the ability to visualize and map animal health spatial data and risk factors using QGIS, import, create, manipulate, and export spatial databases, conduct spatial analysis, and gain knowledge of the qualitative risk analysis method and risk communication.