Strengthening foot-and-mouth disease control and building resilience in Southern Africa

Harare – Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) continues to weaken livestock production and trade across Southern Africa, with its spread intensified by cross-border livestock movements and wildlife–livestock interfaces, making it essential for a coordinated regional approach.

It is against this backdrop that the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through its Virtual Learning Centre (VLC), has launched the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Investigation online training course for Southern Africa. This course is a pragmatic approach designed to strengthen frontline and laboratory capacities for early detection, outbreak investigation and timely response. The course is delivered in partnership with the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD), with collaboration from regional and technical partners, reflecting a shared commitment to strengthening coordinated regional control of the disease.

“As we know, FMD does not respect borders. Shared capacity, common standards, and timely information exchange are essential for effective regional control. This training is designed to be practical, field- and laboratory-oriented, and immediately applicable,” said Patrice Talla, FAO Subregional Coordinator for Southern Africa during a webinar officially launching the course.  

FAO and partners have therefore prioritized strengthening early detection and high-quality outbreak investigation as essential building blocks for effective containment, helping to reduce spread, limit response costs, and protect livelihoods across livestock-dependent communities.

The online course has attracted over 750 registered veterinarians and veterinary paraprofessionals, from 14 of the 16 SADC Member States, a level of participation that signals both the urgency of the current FMD context and the region’s strong demand for practical, standardized capacity development. Building on earlier iterations delivered in 2020 and an adapted version delivered in Portuguese for Mozambique, Angola and Cabo Verde, this 2026 delivery reflects a refined third iteration shaped by field experience and participant feedback.

“World Organization for Animal Health strongly supports this course and encourages participants to apply these skills consistently, thoroughly, and in line with international standards. Each well documented investigation strengthens not only national response capacity, but also regional trust and cooperation,” said Caeser Lubaba, representing the Southern Africa Subregional Coordinator of the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH).

Designed for veterinarians and other animal-health professionals working in both field and laboratory settings, the tutored course delivers twelve hours of training over a four-week period, combining live engagement with structured self-paced learning and an interactive discussion forum.

The course is designed to support competencies that translate into faster, more standardized action during outbreaks, strengthening the ability of participants to recognize suspect cases early, conduct structured investigations, collect and handle samples correctly, report findings quickly, and contribute to more timely containment. This focus is particularly important in a context where regional constraints, such as delayed detection and reporting, limited diagnostic capacity and weak coordination mechanisms allow outbreaks to spread rapidly across communal grazing systems and cross-border corridors.

By the end of the training, participants are expected to apply strengthened outbreak investigation skills in ways that reinforce FMD control at both national and regional levels, translating learning into early detection, higher-quality investigations, and faster containment to help reduce outbreak spread. The course is also expected to improve standardized reporting and information sharing, supporting more harmonized approaches aligned with regional control efforts and common operating standards.

In the long-term, the training will help cultivate a stronger regional community of practice, connecting animal-health professionals across the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) for continued peer learning, experience exchange, and operational collaboration beyond the duration of the course.