Ahead of the evaluation of animal health surveillance system

Signaling the start of a two-week long evaluation of animal health surveillance system, FAO Tanzania has brought together evaluators and government officials from Tanzania mainland and Zanzibar at a workshop held in Dar es Salaam to help familiarize and satisfy one another with the FAO surveillance evaluation tool applicable for the evaluation exercise ahead.

Through funds from the USAID “Supporting Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) to address Zoonotic Diseases and Animal Health in Africa (GHSA-ZDAH)”, the evaluation is part of program implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries (MoLF), Ministry of Agriculture, Natural Resources, Livestock and Fisheries (MANLF), Zanzibar, since 2016. It is part of facilitating informed decisions on appropriate interventions to prevent and control zoonotic and transboundary diseases.

In supporting the evaluation, FAO has developed a standardized Surveillance Evaluation Tool (SET) to objectively and systematically assess national animal disease surveillance systems and provide targeted recommendations in the form of a feasible and time-bound action plan. The FAO Surveillance Evaluation Tool (SET) was used to evaluate the animal health surveillance system in Tanzania in 2017. Since then, efforts to improve on the identified gaps have been intensified and to that effect, the Department of Veterinary Services has requested for a re-evaluation of the system to track the progress.

The evaluation will take place from 13 to 27 November 2020, with an objective of undertaking a comprehensive evaluation of the national animal health surveillance system, specifically covering areas previously visited in 2017 to monitor progress over time, as well as map-out the strengths and weaknesses for strategic interventions.

FAO technical team will facilitate the evaluation. Request for Information (RFI) – questionnaire filled out by the Department of Veterinary Services and returned to the assessors prior to start of the field mission will guide the assessment and documents to review.

The team will visit and interview identified surveillance stakeholders at strategic points at national, zonal, regional and district levels based on the evaluation matrix developed. Identified stakeholders include veterinary professionals and para-professionals in public and private practice (including wildlife sector), zoo sanitary personnel, meat inspectors, animal owners, livestock traders, wildlife and associated academic and research institutions.

Additionally, review of relevant surveillance reports and documents, strategies, policy, plans and guidelines related to surveillance, previous report(s) of evaluation missions (self-assessment and/or external evaluation) will be undertaken to determine their adequacy with the surveillance objectives as well as track progress made since the last conducted SET was applied.