IV. Effects and Impact

87. In the period since 1994, the main thrust of FAO's animal health programme has been on EMPRES. In the view of the evaluation, the main successes of EMPRES have been its work associated with the implementation of GREP and the development and dissemination of TADinfo. GREP was designed with a clear plan for achieving rinderpest-free status in all countries by 2010. Targets for GREP have been established for the five-year period 1998-2003, and progress can be assessed against these. With the single exception of southern Somalia, work in all geographic areas is either on schedule or ahead of target - an impressive achievement.

88. TADinfo represents another important achievement in improving disease reporting and strengthening early warning capability in developing countries. It has already been adopted by countries and fills a critical gap for developing countries by providing an appropriate software package for animal disease quantification and management. It is flexible and makes use of the types of reporting that are typically found in developing countries. Perhaps its greatest advantage is that system upkeep is managed by FAO and thus it is extremely cost-effective.

89. While there have been some very good outputs for promoting contingency planning and emergency preparedness, there has not yet been the same degree of progress in early reaction as in other components of EMPRES. The evaluation team feels that advancement in this area depends on working more closely and directly with countries.

90. Most of the non-EMPRES part of the animal health programme is of fairly low visibility at present (except the work on tsetse and trypanosomiasis). While some relevant and interesting outputs are being produced, most of these activities lack critical mass and their strategic importance is not clear. Nonetheless, the work on parasite resistance to drugs represents a significant partnership between FAO and the private sector. The volume of work on veterinary services has declined significantly in recent years, as institution-building projects for government veterinary services implemented by FAO have been phased out.

91. PAAT has been a useful umbrella for FAO's work on tsetse and trypanosomiasis, with the Organization playing a leading role in this multi-agency programme. PAAT is an international alliance with normative activity but should play an important guiding role in the implementation of PATTEC, if donors can be found.

92. FAO's programme on animal health addresses gender in an integrated fashion, paying considerable attention to small livestock which are of particular interest to women in developing countries. TCP projects on the delivery of animal health services have included specific components for addressing the needs of women, and these principles are being applied in the training of veterinary service personnel in the post-project period.

V. Conclusions and Recommendations

PREAMBLE

93. It is clear that FAO's programme for animal health can respond to only a very limited part of Member Nations' needs in that area. Both FAO and national veterinary services in developing countries face the same kinds of choice as to which veterinary work should be given priority in their respective areas of work. The needs are many and the resources few. To be most effective, FAO must direct its limited resources to those areas where it has comparative strengths and, within those areas, where the needs are most acute. The recommendations that follow are intended to give that orientation to the future animal health work of the Organization.

EMPRES

94. There is widespread support for the EMPRES programme among the countries visited by the missions. FAO is acknowledged as the leader and the main source of technical expertise for promoting early warning and emergency response planning on transboundary livestock disease. However, the evaluation identified some future issues for the programme. These include:

1. finding ways to improve disease surveillance systems, especially at the national level, in the face of donor disillusionment with many government services;
2. tempering expectations that other transboundary diseases will be tackled with as much success as rinderpest;
3. taking a situation-based, rather than a disease-based, approach to prioritizing tactical transboundary disease control;
4. stressing the importance of disease surveillance for reasons other than emergency prevention;
5. seeking to increase funding for EMPRES activities, including through working more directly with countries on developing early warning and reaction capabilities based on particular country possibilities.

95. Developing countries are responding to the concepts that FAO is promoting. In an environment in which there has been considerable disillusionment with central delivery of veterinary (and other government) services, donors have been increasingly inclined to promote local service delivery. However, both the veterinary authorities in recipient countries and the donors that support transboundary disease control activities recognize that appropriate strategy planning requires centralized epidemiological intelligence through the flow of information to the national level and beyond. It is important that the EMPRES-Livestock programme promotes the need for disease surveillance, including systems for communicating information from the field to national disease control authorities. It is recommended that FAO continue to promote the improvement of disease surveillance systems, including at the national level and through dialogue with partners in the donor community. This would include the promotion and further development of TADinfo, which should continue as planned, in the expectation that it will gain a high level of adoption and become a critical component of transboundary disease intelligence. Furthermore, every effort should be made to secure continuing funding for RADISCON until such time as it can be self-sustaining.

96. In countries that are under threat of rinderpest introduction, in the face of provisional freedom where vaccination has ceased, contingency planning is clearly needed, as is surveillance for early recognition of an incursion. GREP has therefore been an excellent vehicle for the promotion of EMPRES. Two different and important points need to be kept in mind here. First, effective contingency planning is constrained by the very limited resources and poor technical capability of many veterinary services, which often cause those services to be overwhelmed when responding to immediate needs. Second, rinderpest control and eradication has been greatly facilitated by the availability of highly efficacious vaccines. There is a risk that stakeholders may develop expectations of similar successes in the control of other strategic diseases for which long-lasting vaccines are not available and for which control is more dependent on other factors, particularly livestock movement control. It will be much more difficult to control other major transboundary diseases, such as CBPP or FMD.

97. There are some conceptual difficulties in encouraging emergency prevention planning for most other diseases. Where a transboundary disease is endemic, its control usually does not have the urgency implied by "emergency prevention". It is difficult for personnel in a country where FMD is endemic to appreciate the need to undertake contingency planning (for such circumstances as the introduction of a new virus type), when their concern is more likely to be with planning routine control activities. The 1998 EMPRES review recommended the development of criteria for the inclusion of new diseases in the programme. Rather than disease lists, it is recommended that strategic diseases for global or regional elimination can be recognized (e.g. classical swine fever in the Americas) but that for most interventions it may be more useful to recognize transboundary disease events or situations in which the threat to a country is from an external source, and to promote early warning and early reaction activities for those circumstances. For example, for FMD, it would seem wise for EMPRES to limit itself to normative activities and to support intercountry collaboration and specific disease control activities when the requirement arises.

98. Another possible conceptual problem has arisen from the apparent linking of the need for surveillance to early warning. In fact, surveillance is a basic necessity for all disease control activities, and EMPRES promotes improved mechanisms for disease surveillance, reporting and epidemiological analysis for the effective planning of disease control activities. Therefore, what is required and what EMPRES promotes is the addressing of a broader need, rather than a simple requirement for "emergency prevention", and this leads to confusion over exactly how broad the mandate of EMPRES is. It can similarly be argued that the roles of EMPRES in promoting enabling research and providing a coordinating role in disease control are equally appropriate in situations other than the emergency prevention of transboundary disease. It is recommended that AGAH seek to redefine EMPRES to make it clear, if indeed it is the case, that its mandate is broader than just "emergency prevention" and embraces support for the strengthening or establishment of surveillance, epidemiology, control and eradication planning and policies for disease situations with transboundary implications.

99. Much of the implementation of EMPRES principles has been effected by TCP projects relating to emergency disease response. These have been an appropriate means of promoting EMPRES, as they place it in a specific context. However, there is a continuing shortage of personnel in the EMPRES-Livestock group, and this is causing management difficulties in maintaining planned normative activities in the face of unplanned emergency operational responses. Either the staff shortage should be redressed or greater discrimination should be applied to the acceptance of TCP requests, based on the prioritization of TCP activity and ongoing normative programme activities. However, there is another issue: the larger-scale application of EMPRES at the country level will not progress very quickly through TCP alone and will depend on FAO convincing governments and donors of the need for early warning and reaction capabilities and obtaining investments in those areas. Progress with donors has, to date, been disappointing. It is recommended that FAO should greatly intensify its efforts to obtain extra-budgetary funding for EMPRES activities. A particular need at present is to ensure funding for the rinderpest freedom verification process, without which there is an increased risk of re-emergence. Generally speaking, however, funding for EMPRES could be increased by working with countries and donors that are engaged in the strengthening of veterinary services, in order to ensure that the needs of emergency planning and response requirements are realistically addressed (including support to legislation for disease prevention and control), taking country capacity into account in a manner that is likely to be sustainable.

100. In this latter connection, it is recommended that FAO's work on veterinary services be absorbed within EMPRES and that work related to contingency planning become one of its key focuses. This would have the benefit of demonstrating FAO's increased commitment to EMPRES, strengthen the case for additional resources and provide better focus for FAO's work in veterinary services, which currently has limited funding and visibility.

OTHER PROGRAMME AREAS

Environmental Management of Insect-borne Diseases

101. The evaluation endorses the basic thrust of FAO's programme in the environmental management of insect-borne diseases and the focus on PAAT. It is a positive development that this activity has been given its own identity within FAO's Medium-Term Plan. The programme has produced significant outputs, including PAAT-IS, PAAT position papers, guidelines for pest management and training materials. Although conceptually different, PATTEC is also concerned with tsetse control and trypanosomiasis control in sub-Saharan Africa. While progress has recently been made on harmonization, the challenge is to coordinate the differing strengths and priorities of the respective agencies involved in PAAT and PATTEC in achieving the goal of effective tsetse and trypanosomiasis control in sub-Saharan Africa. It is recommended that recent discussions among the various agencies are followed up and more concrete arrangements are agreed, including for operational activities. This is likely to be an essential condition for donor funding.

Integrated Parasite Control and Drug Resistance

102. Integrated parasite control and drug resistance have no clear identity within FAO's livestock programme and their development appears to be planned within a short time horizon. The outputs of the programme appear to be important, but the outline of how FAO intends to develop its work on resistance in the medium or long term is unclear. It is recommended that FAO should specifically consider and enunciate its perceived medium- and long-term role in this area and how it intends to interact with other concerned organizations and entities.

COORDINATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES

103. The effective implementation of FAO programmes in animal health clearly depends on the development of effective relationships with other agencies working in related areas. These relationships have been developed well in some areas: for example, FAO work on FMD in Asia has been synergistic with that being carried out by OIE, and both agencies are working on developing support for regional collaboration. Good working-level contacts have helped to avoid potential difficulties. Cooperation with WHO within the framework of PAAT has also been very good. Generally speaking, there are effective collaborative working arrangements with IAEA, through AGE, on support to research work in developing countries.

104. FAO and OAU-IBAR have common interests in animal health, such as the PACE programme, where FAO is involved in implementation and there is a clear link with EMPRES. OAU-IBAR and FAO also share a strong common interest in problems related to tsetse control and trypanosomiasis. However, there are matters, both political and technical, that are as yet unresolved between the agencies in both these activities. Positive steps have recently been taken with respect to tsetse control and trypanosomiasis, but potential conflicts of interest with respect to operational responsibilities remain, when and if donor funding is received for field operations. Current problems relating to EMPRES are not as significant as the operational difficulties that emerged some years ago, but the FAO/OAU-IBAR relationship needs to be carefully nurtured, as there are considerable opportunities for overlap in responsibilities and these are best avoided.

FIELD ACTIVITIES

105. The review of field activities made some recommendations and pointed out some general lessons for future projects in animal health aimed at ensuring the better application of results and increased sustainability.

106. Chief among these is the necessity to fund (from either the project or other sources) those elements/activities that are critical to the success of the projects but are not usually funded by projects. For example, the slaughter of animals is a necessary part of ASF control strategy but, if compensation is not provided, farmers may be reluctant to slaughter their animals and the strategy is likely to fail. When farmers are required to pay for vaccination against a disease that is being controlled in the public interest (i.e. to avoid or halt an epidemic) many of them may not vaccinate. Requesting private vets or paravets to provide disease reporting without compensation is likely to mean that the task does not get accomplished.

107. Two projects failed because ineffective vaccine was purchased. This points to a need to involve technical personnel in the selection of equipment and consumables, including especially biologicals.

108. Two final points are raised in connection with field activities, although they are not necessarily particular to animal health projects. One is that many of the projects had objectives that were either vague or else highly ambitious, given the time and resources available. This seems to have been an attempt to improve the chances for project approval, even though AGAH feels overburdened by its responsibilities for project preparation and backstopping. There is a need for more realistic assessment of what is possible. This seems to be more of an issue with non-emergency projects.

109. The second point relating to field activities is that all non-emergency TCP projects are intended to be catalytic, resulting in follow-up by the government, or from donors if government resources are not available. For activities where donor support is needed, it is highly advisable to identify the likely sources of donor support before project implementation begins, as experience shows that donor interest is unlikely to emerge later.

Annex 1

REPORT OF THE EXTERNAL REVIEW PANEL

110. The Panel met in Rome during 17 to 19 December 2001, during which consultations were conducted with Evaluation staff, with the Assistant Director-General for the Agriculture Department, the Director of the Animal Production and Health Division and the Chief and senior staff of the Animal Health Service. The Panel considered the draft Evaluation Report, in the context of the current Strategic Framework for FAO for 2000-2015, the Medium-Term Plan for 2002-2007, the Programme of Work and Budget 2002-2003, the AGA Mission Statement and priorities as outlined by senior management.

Panel Findings

1. The External Review Panel appreciates the evaluation process and endorses, with one exception, the conclusions and recommendations that are presented within the Evaluation Report.
2. The Panel recognized that there is a high demand for assistance in animal health from member countries and this is reflected in an active Regular Programme of activities and also in a high level of participation of the Service in TCP activities.
3. The Panel was impressed by the commitment demonstrated by the Chief of the Service and by the professionalism and dedication of his staff. It is a highly competent and productive team which has responded well to the heavy demands placed upon it by Regular Programme activities and the very substantial load of TCP and other unplanned activities.
4. While the heavy contribution of the Service to the TCP programme represents a particular challenge, it has also been an opportunity, which they have utilized extremely well, to undertake operational aspects of their work programme in the field, and to maintain a presence and appropriate balance between normative and operational activities.
5. The current structure of the Service was established in 1994 and includes an Infectious Diseases Group, a Parasitic Diseases Group and a Veterinary Services Group. The EMPRES programme has become a major element of the Infectious Diseases Group, reflecting the priority placed on it by FAO. In particular, its coordination of the Global Rinderpest Eradication Campaign, which is its main operational focus, has played a pivotal role in the success seen in controlling the disease and is on target for achieving disease freedom in 2010.
6. Rapid changes are occurring globally in the context of livestock trade and the recognition of the importance of livestock in food security and poverty alleviation. These changes are reflected in changing priorities of FAO and the Panel believes that it is important that the Animal Health Service positions itself strategically to meet these changing demands.
7. The Review Panel has, however, identified some key concerns. In particular, it believes that the human resource limitation is so acute, and the unprogrammed demands on staff so great, that the Animal Health Service is severely constrained in the implementation of their Regular Programme activities. Key areas that need to be addressed are indicated in the recommendations below.

Recommendations

a) Strategy

111. The Panel notes that the Animal Health Service participates in the strategic planning and prioritization process that has been adopted by the Organization:

• The Animal Health Service needs to define and articulate its strategy more clearly within the Medium-Term Plan document.
• Given the limited resources available, the next medium-term planning exercise needs to be followed by a process of eliminating the lowest priority activities.

b) Resource allocation

• Despite the potential for alleviating the workload by eliminating low-priority activities, much of the demand placed on the Animal Health Service comes increasingly from unscheduled activities, including TCPs. The Panel finds it difficult to see how an appropriate level of service can be sustained without the allocation of additional staff. The Panel therefore recommends that FAO give serious consideration to increasing the staff of the Animal Health Service.
• The EMPRES programme is one area that clearly requires such additional resources. The Global Trust Fund for SPFS and EMPRES, currently being established, would appear to present one opportunity for funding such an initiative.
• Other extra-budgetary sources of long-term, secure funding should also be explored. The responsibility for pursuing this needs to be clearly identified.
• Consideration should be given to redefining the responsibilities of some regional animal production and health staff, to place a greater emphasis on the areas determined to be of highest priority.

c) Strengthening linkages

112. The Panel recognizes that staff of the Animal Health Service have a range of diverse and highly developed skills that equip them to address complex animal health issues. However, the strategic direction of FAO and the donor community is to exploit the benefits of an integrated multidisciplinary approach to livestock development, in the context of rural development and poverty alleviation. The Animal Production and Health Division has embarked on this process.

• The Panel notes that policy elements in the EMPRES programme need strengthening and recommends an enhanced interaction between the Animal Health Service and the Livestock Sector Analysis and Policy Branch.
• The Animal Health Service has a particular strength as a source of expertise. This should be better utilized by providing new concepts to address current and future issues in the livestock subsector such as technical issues (disease surveillance, reforms of veterinary services) and policy analysis formulation and implementation.
• The Service also has a communication and advisory role which should be more effectively exploited to enhance the importance of animal health for poverty reduction strategies in developing countries.

d) Structure

113. It is recommended that the Animal Health Service redefines the structure and responsibilities of the groups in order to be consistent with their broader objectives.

• In particular, the activities of the Parasitic Diseases Group need to be more focused and directed towards achieving the objectives of the division.

The Veterinary Services Group

114. The structure and function of this group drew the attention of the Panel and was the one recommendation within the Evaluation Report with which the Panel disagreed. National regulatory veterinary services are the basis for animal disease surveillance and control. It appears that much of the emphasis of the Veterinary Services Group has been on the delivery of clinical veterinary services and the Panel believes that this focus needs to be changed. What is a higher priority is the promotion of institutional reform involving core function analysis to reposition veterinary services to focus on essential disease control activities such as legislation, surveillance, epidemiology, diagnostic support and disease reporting.

• It is recommended that the Veterinary Services Group remain as a separate entity and its role be redefined. It should have a broader role in support for reform and strengthening of regulatory veterinary services to underpin national disease surveillance and control at all levels.

Annex 2

MANAGEMENT RESPONSE (AG DEPARTMENT)

115. Management welcomes the methodology applied for this evaluation which involved consultation with member countries and the involvement of an external expert panel. It also recognizes that the evaluation tabled is fair and objective.

116. The evaluation initially focused on the Technical Cooperation Projects (TCPs) managed by the Animal Health Service, and then expanded to cover the performance of the EMPRES-Livestock Programme and eventually the entire Animal Health component of Programme 2.1.3 Livestock. It is noted that the numerous member countries visited expressed high appreciation of the EMPRES-Livestock Programme activities. Management is committed to continue focusing attention on EMPRES in all its elements, including the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme (GREP), as suggested on various occasions by the review.

117. However, Management finds that, due to the initial focus on TCP and then EMPRES, the review should have given greater coverage to other important areas addressed by the programme. In recent biennia, FAO's programme in Animal Health has addressed not only the spread of transboundary animal diseases (primarily dealt with by the EMPRES Programme), but also has provided support and advice to member countries in zoonotic diseases, food safety related to food of animal origin, quality and safety of drugs, biological products and pesticides, insect-borne diseases, and the adjustment of animal health policies and services.

118. While a very high priority will continue to be accorded to the EMPRES-Livestock Programme, Management will also address other areas, such as Veterinary Public Health, environmental management of insect-borne diseases and the support to policy and institutional reform in livestock services. The Medium-term Plan 2004-2009 will continue to reflect this balanced programme thrust for which a concerted effort is being made to attract extra-budgetary support.

119. The following specific comments are made:

1. For the EMPRES Programme the evaluation report detected a weakness in the Early Reaction element which it attributes: (a) to the complexity of the concept of contingency planning; (b) to the newness of the concept; and (c) to lack of resources, both staff and non-staff. All three reasons are valid. Even after the decision to devote more time and resources to the development of the Transboundary Animal Diseases Information System (TADInfo), to undertake some modelling initiatives, and to promote the advancement of Good Emergency Management Practices (GEMP), much more is still to be achieved. Such progress is also required in the FAO Regional Offices where necessary strengthening of professional presence will help EMPRES develop competence in its twin technical pillars, i.e. surveillance (early warning) and contingency planning (early reaction).
2. The evaluation report and the report of the external review panel differ in their recommendations with respect to the Veterinary Services Group which is recommended by the former report to be folded into the EMPRES programme, particularly to strengthen disease early reaction. The external panel, in turn, recommends that the Veterinary Services Group be maintained and strengthened so as to enable it to provide greater assistance to member country veterinary authorities, noting that "what is a high priority is the promotion of institutional reform involving core function analysis to re-position veterinary services to focus on essential disease control activities such as legislation, surveillance, epidemiology, diagnostic support and disease reporting". Management supports the external review panel's recommendation for two reasons. Firstly, FAO is expected to assist member country policy makers in rationalising the delivery of veterinary services between the public and private sectors, based on the recognised responsibilities and competencies of each. This is of particular importance given the pressure on governments to further downsize public services. FAO is required to articulate principles for rational delivery of public and private veterinary services that go well beyond early reaction to epidemic infectious diseases. Secondly, the national veterinary services are one of the platforms for building the diverse public sector functions demanded by producers and consumers. These include broad outcomes such as poverty reduction through enhancing trade (WTO/SPS Agreement), protecting public health through limiting food and feed borne zoonotic diseases (veterinary public health), and a general shift in public management toward facilitating private sector growth while protecting public health, natural resources and the environment. During the elaboration of the Medium-term Plan 2004-2009, it is intended to re-examine the linkage between the work of the Veterinary Services Group and the Policy Branch of AGA in matters of veterinary policy and pro-poor livestock policies in order to enhance the role of the Animal Health programme in the issues mentioned above.
3. The evaluation report states that "the work on resistance features little in FAO's programme planning documents" and has a valid point when mentioning that "work in parasitology is not mentioned in the Medium-term Plan for 2002-2007 and work on parasites is given only a passing general reference in the PWB for 2002-03" (para 77). AGAH is working to improve and consolidate the activities of the Parasitic Diseases Group. This Group is increasing its presence in the field of Veterinary Public Health, in particular of parasitic zoonoses. The consequences of such shifts will be evaluated carefully, both in terms of programme priorities as indicated above and in terms of resource allocation.
4. The evaluation report documented a generally satisfactory impact of animal health related TCPs and TF field projects, which is noted with satisfaction. It found, however, that the non-emergency TCPs received a generally lower rating than those related more directly to acute animal disease emergencies and falling under the EMPRES mandate. The Animal Health Service recognises opportunities to also lift these broader, more development-orientated TCP projects to higher levels of impact.

120. Management agrees with the recommendation of the External Review Panel to further sharpen the focus of the Animal Health Programme in the Medium-term Plan 2004-2009. The recommendation of the external panel to allocate more resources, in particular personnel resources, to the Animal Health component of the Livestock Programme, to respond to the ever increasing requests by member countries, is noted. The implementation of this recommendation will have to be a combination of gradual expansion of the regular resource base of the Animal Health component and of aggressive acquisition of extra-budgetary programme resources.

Acronyms