Bats being sold in a wildlife wet market in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Credit: FAO ECTAD collection – triangulated surveillance activities

Jakarta – The current COVID-19 global pandemic and other prior outbreaks such as coronavirus Middle-East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and Ebola remind us of the importance of the understanding of zoonoses (animal to human spillover diseases) and emerging infectious diseases (EID) threats.

Wildlife wet markets and the consumption of bush meat become one of the public health concerns associated with these diseases. The wet markets can be a high-risk location for animal zoonotic disease spillover events, but they play important roles in the society, both economically and culturally.

Considering previous and new challenges for zoonoses and EID, FAO Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) Indonesia with funding support from the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) initiated a new project in Indonesia named Wildlife Wet Markets. This project will be implemented within a 10-months period from September 2020 to June 2021.

In the inception workshop which was conducted on August 13, FAO ECTAD Indonesia engaged with the Directorate of Biodiversity Conservation, Ministry of Environment and Forestry (DBC MoEF) and the Directorate General of Livestock and Animal Health Services, Ministry of Agriculture (DGLAHS MoA) to develop a plan of risk reduction of spillover to human and livestock from wildlife at high-risk animal wet markets and value chain in one selected province in Indonesia.

The FAO Representative Indonesia ad interim Victor Mol highlighted that the new project will address some critical gaps to manage and mitigate risks of EIDs spillover to and spread among humans arising from the wildlife wet market.

“Over the last 16 years, FAO ECTAD has been working with DGLAHS MoA to strengthen the capacity and preparedness to prevent and respond to High Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) and other emerging zoonotic diseases. Expanding the program to the wildlife value chain is an important step to address the risk of EIDs spillover from wildlife wet markets,” Victor said.

During the four-hours virtual inception workshop, more than 85 participants from the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Trade, along with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), universities, private sector, non-government organizations and international partners engaged in dynamic discussions to formulate a draft strategic work plan for Wildlife Wet Market project.

The workshop produced a plan of priority activities that aligned with the Indonesian context and identified priority areas of implementation. The activities ranged from risk profiling, value chain analysis, and knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) baseline survey, to develop a roadmap for risk reduction along the wildlife wet market value chain and strengthen regulation and advocacy to the local government. Priority provinces mentioned for the study were North Sulawesi, North Sumatra, and Central Java.

Under the One Health umbrella, the FAO ECTAD – DFAT project will work closely together with all related ministries and cross-sectoral institutions to achieve the same goal: a strengthened capacity and preparedness of the country to prevent and respond to the zoonotic emerging diseases along wildlife value chains.