Malawi is a landlocked country, with Mozambique in the south, southeast and southwest, Zambia in the west and Tanzania in the northeast and north. Its economy is based mainly on agricultural production, with the principal export-earning commodities being tobacco, sugar, coffee and tea, produced to a major extent at estate level. The estate sector comprises between 15 and 20 percent of agricultural production, whereas 75 to 80 percent is carried out at smallholder level and crops produced at this level are mainly for home consumption.
Livestock production has an important role to play in the national economy as Malawi still depends on imported meat and meat products, milk and milk products, poultry and eggs. It is therefore a national policy to increase production to become self-sufficient, in order to reduce importation and to be able, in the long term, to export surplus production to neighbouring countries and earn foreign exchange. At smallholder level, however, livestock has a much more important role to play, as it serves various purposes. It is the rural `savings account', where money can be mobilized in times of need. Draught animal power is widely used; it is part of traditional rites such as weddings and funerals (lobola or dowry) and it is a source of protein. The national herd is comparatively small, with 1 300 000 head of cattle, 100 000 sheep, 950 000 goats and 300 000 pigs, compared with a national population of approximately 11 000 000 people.
Any major cattle epidemic occurring in a neighbouring country therefore poses a threat, not only to the national economy but also to Malawian society. In the past the country's veterinary authorities made considerable efforts to protect their livestock sector, funded partly from their own revenues and partly with the assistance of international and bilateral donors. Rinderpest vaccination campaigns in the 1980s, regular Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) vaccinations until recently (1996) and the establishment of an intensive tick control infrastructure are only a few examples.
Although a fast-spreading epidemic of Contagious Bovine Pleuro-pneumonia (CBPP) had been causing serious losses in the livestock sector in neighbouring Tanzania since 1990, it was only in February 1995 when Rukwa region in Tanzania was affected that Malawi was informed about the epidemic. In response to a request from the Government of Tanzania for emergency assistance in 1994, project TCP/URT/4453, Emergency Control of CBPP in South-central Tanzania had been approved by FAO under its Technical Cooperation Programme.
The areas of Malawi at immediate risk of introduction of CBPP by cross-border movements of cattle were obviously those bordering Tanzania to the south - the two northern-most districts of Malawi - Karonga and Chitipa. Both districts are integrated into Karonga Agricultural Development Division (KRADD), an area of 7 587 km2 with a rural population of roughly 300 000 people living in 53 000 households. The livestock population based on the 1995/96 census amounts to 95 000 cattle, all of the East African Zebu type, 8 000 sheep, 18 500 goats, 13 000 pigs, 4 000 rabbits, 6 000 guineafowl and 190 000 poultry. At immediate risk were all cattle within a 15-20 km belt along the Songwe River, which is the entire natural border between Malawi and Tanzania. The cattle population in this area can be estimated at 22 500 head. This seems to be a small proportion, but as the example of Tanzania has shown, the spread of the disease when it has entered the country is difficult to contain and therefore a cattle population which has never been exposed to the disease is highly susceptible to it.
Malawian veterinary staff had no practical experience with the disease and its epidemiology and was ill-prepared to handle a CBPP epidemic. Slow response and lack of adequate funds to handle an emergency of this magnitude would result in the death of many thousands of cattle in Malawi with negative effects for the national economy and severe implications for food security, even posing a threat of further spread into other southern African countries.
With the limited resources available, Malawi's Veterinary Department took initial steps upon arrival of information on the epidemic in Tanzania. Staff in the high-risk area along the Songwe River was briefed on clinical signs of the disease, cattle owners were informed on the prevalence of the disease in Tanzania, the number of Disease Control Guards (DCGs) along the Songwe River was increased and movement control of livestock was intensified. While the country attempted to mobilize resources, it needed external technical and financial aid to immediately set up a surveillance and control system. The Government of Malawi therefore requested assistance from FAO.
This assistance was approved by FAO in June 1995 under the Technical Cooperation Programme project TCP/MLW/4552, Protection from Transboundary Spread of CBPP. An amount of $US 191 200 was made available and the Government contributed in kind, through facilities such as offices and laboratories, logistics for surveillance campaigns, transport and salaries for the National Project Director and all national staff involved in the project. The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MOALD) was designated the government agency responsible for project execution. The project started in June 1995 and ended on 31 December 1996, extended from the original completion date of May 1996.
The objective of the project was to provide assistance in the establishment of an effective emergency preparedness system to prevent CBPP spread from Tanzania into Malawi and subsequently into other southern African countries, with the aim of preempting losses associated with CBPP outbreaks.
In order to achieve this objective, the project aimed to strengthen the Malawi Veterinary Department by:
- fielding an international consultant for risk assessment;
- designing a programme of surveillance and contingency planning;
- providing funds for the employment and mobilization of 30 additional Disease Control Guards to enhance border surveillance;
- procuring necessary equipment for better surveillance campaigns;
- making provisions for in-service staff training, study tours and attendance of a regional workshop on CBPP.
As Malawi had never experienced an outbreak of CBPP since the disease was introduced into the African continent, all strategies developed were aimed to maintain this disease-free status. The two northernmost districts of Malawi - Chitipa and Karonga - were chosen for project implementation. The existing veterinary infrastructure was found suitable, needing only some adjustments: strengthening by employment of additional Disease Control Guards; staff training in epidemiology and diagnosis of the disease; facilitation of movement for DCGs and veterinary field personnel; and extension material such as posters for awareness creation among the farmer community, cattle traders, butchers and local authorities along the border area.
An FAO consultant visited the areas concerned in mid-June 1995, both the Tanzanian and the Malawian side of the Songwe River, evaluated the farming systems, cattle movements and veterinary staff deployments in the area and assisted the Department of Animal Health and Industry (DAHI) in the planning of the following prevention and control strategies.
2.2.1 Strengthening of surveillance
The system of patrolling DCGs along the common borders with Tanzania and Zambia, originally established during the OAU Joint Programme 15 on Rinderpest vaccination in 1983 and maintained ever since for the surveillance and control of FMD, was intensified by local recruitment of 30 additional staff, increasing staff deployment to a total of 54 people. All newly recruited DCGs received a bicycle to facilitate their movements; they were strategically placed and attached to Veterinary Assistants, manning dip tanks and veterinary stations along the Songwe River in Chitipa and Karonga districts. Each DCG was responsible for the surveillance of villages, hamlets or settlements within a 5 km stretch along the Tanzanian border. They ensured that VAs received all movement permits for cattle introduced into their area, detected and reported any illegal movements into or out of the area and apprehended illegally moved animals for further investigation.
At the same time VAs were asked to report all cattle movements in their areas and any observation of pneumonic diseases - both clinical and post mortem - during meat inspection using the established lines of command via Veterinary Area Supervisor (VAS), Project Veterinary Officer (PVO) to the Divisional Veterinary Officer (DVO). If any lung lesions were to be found during meat inspections by either the VAs in the field or the Meat Inspectors (MIs) at the slaughterhouses or slaughter slabs, a second opinion was to be asked for by a senior officer, whether VAS, PVO or DVO.
One weakness, identified by the consultant, was the absence of a professional veterinarian; the Chief Veterinary Officer of DAHI thus recruited, in August 1995, a German national to assist the Malawi Veterinary Department.
2.2.2. Awareness creation and publicity
Immediately after receiving information on the outbreak of CBPP in neighbouring Tanzania, an information campaign was mounted, using the KRADD's "Yellow Van", an M-109 Land Rover Station Wagon equipped with loudspeaker systems. It was driven all along the Songwe River in Karonga district up to the foothills of the Misuku Hills range, where the road at Ngana dip tank ends. The same was done along the Chitipa district border to Tanzania from the eastern end, Buphigu dip tank based at the western foothills of the Misuku range to Mukoma dip tank in the westernmost corner of Malawi. Farmers were informed on the presence of CBPP in all areas north and northwest of Mbeya region and of its devastating effects on cattle, and cooperation was asked for in restricting cattle movements from Tanzania into the area.
Thereafter VAs, VASs and DCGs held meetings with farmers and local leaders in their areas where, in dialogues with the cattle owners, traders and butchers, the nature of the disease was discussed in detail and control measures such as slaughter with compensation, quarantine, serosurveillance (blood sample collection) and eventual vaccinations were presented to the audience as government policies in the event of an outbreak.
The consultant produced a coloured poster showing the main features of the disease with English descriptions and arranged for printing an initial set. These posters were displayed at all veterinary stations, dip tanks, border points, government offices and trading centres in the region. Following the Tanzanian example, it was planned to produce two more sets of the poster, titled in the two vernacular languages, Chitumbuka and Chichewa.
Other publicity tools were the production of a video cassette on CBPP and its control by FAO/EMPRES and diapositive slide sets, which have been intensively used for staff training together with information material produced for these training sessions. Planned radio programmes and the production of a film version of the CBPP video for extension work under field conditions have not materialized.
2.2.3 Movement controls and cross border liaison
Under the existing laws and regulations of Malawi, movement of any livestock is subject to issuance of permits at various levels. Movements from dip tank to dip tank are obtained by the livestock owner, trader or butcher upon presentation of the animals from the VA in whose area the animals originate. Upon arrival at the destination such movement permits expire and are collected by the VA or MI. Any move without permit is considered as theft and such animals are apprehended by DCGs in case of detection at control points along the regular trekking routes. Movements between districts are regulated with different permits issued by PVOs or DVOs and movements between Agriculture Development Divisions (ADDs) are regulated by permits issued by DVOs. All those movements are either in duplicate (VA) or triplicate (PVO/DVO), to enable the retracing of originals in case of disease or theft.
Cross-border movements of livestock or products, however, can be carried out only after obtaining an International Movement Permit, which is issued exclusively at Veterinary Headquarters in Lilongwe. Owing to the nature of family relationships on both sides of the border, such measures are tedious and most of the time not adhered to. Local movements are therefore often semi-legalized by obtaining a permit from the VA and then crossing the border somewhere illegally.
To achieve better control in such situations, border patrols have been intensified and farmers have been made aware of the risks involved, but it was the intention to legalize the whole process in order to get a more accurate picture on the cross-border movements and not to lose too much of the goodwill and cooperation of the livestock owners in the area. The introduction and establishment of a Local International Movement Permit, which would be applicable for livestock movements within a 15 km cordon on both sides of the border and which would be issued by the VAs in the area, was planned, designed and discussed with a Tanzanian delegation, during the second bi-partite meeting held in Karonga on 28 November 1995. The permit has not been established yet, as the relevant authorities in Tanzania and Malawi have not convened to change the applicable laws and regulations.
Under the project, cross-border liaisons were formalized, normalized and regularly established at all levels. During the consultant's first visit, the first bi-partite meeting between Tanzanian and Malawian veterinary officials took place on 19 June 1995 at Kiwira Coal Mine, where ways and means of cooperation between the two FAO-funded projects TCP/URT/4453 and TCP/MLW/4552 were discussed. This was followed by a meeting of Tanzanian, Zambian and Malawian members of delegations attending the Joint FAO/EMPRES and OAU/IBAR regional workshop on Contagious bovine Pleuro-pneumonia prevention and control strategies in eastern and southern Africa, held in Arusha, Tanzania, from 4 to 6 July 1995. The next meeting was scheduled to be held in Karonga in November 1995, but when it finally took place the Zambian delegation did not attend.
At lower levels, meetings to exchange or obtain disease relevant information were frequently arranged between Veterinary Area Supervisors, Project Veterinary Officers and Divisional Veterinary Officers with counterparts at district or regional level in Tanzania, namely with District Veterinary Officers and staff at Kyela and Ileje or with the regional authorities RALDO and RVO Mbeya.
2.2.4 Test and slaughter policy in case of CBPP outbreak in Malawi
Malawi has never experienced CBPP and prophylactic vaccinations against the disease have never been used in Malawian cattle populations, which makes serosurveillance without serological reactions the perfect method to identify diseased animals. It must therefore be the aim to maintain this antibody-free status of the cattle herds and use it for diagnosing infected animals, should the disease enter Malawi.
In cooperation with the FAO consultant, DAHI established a five-step control strategy based upon "test and slaughter". The first step would be the initial response to an animal or animals suspected to be infected with CBPP, either detected during patrols by DCGs or upon presentation to VAs for treatment at a veterinary station or even after slaughter during meat inspection. These animals should be purchased by the Department, subjected to post mortem inspection in the presence of a senior officer (PVO or DVO) or, in case of slaughter, the stock subjected to meat inspection. Should clinical and pathological features support the initial suspicion, relevant samples such as fluid from the chest cavity and portions of lung tissue should be taken, preserved and sent in a cool chain via Lilongwe to an international laboratory within the region, either Onderstepoort, South Africa, or Debre Zeit, Ethiopia. During the waiting period for confirmation of the results a total ban on movements out of the district should be declared; all slaughter stock should be slaughtered within the district but carcasses can be moved out. Should the test results turn out negative, restrictions can be lifted.
Step two applies when test results are positive; then all contact animals must be slaughtered under payment of full compensation to the cattle owners, whereby the Government obtains the revenue from the sale of the carcasses as the meat is fit for human consumption. The Treasury should establish an emergency fund to enable compensation payments without delay, as this is crucial for further cooperation with the cattle owners.
Step three is the establishment of a Cordon Area, using geo-morphological features where possible to set up boundaries in a 5 km circumference around the initial focus of infected animals. In this area all cattle have to be regularly inspected and blood samples have to be taken at 6-week intervals for Slide Agglutination Serum tests (SASTs). If the SAST indicates positive, serum samples of all animals have to be prepared and forwarded via CVL, Lilongwe, to the international reference laboratory for confirmation with the Complement Fixation Test (CFT). During the waiting period for the test results, owners have to be advised to graze their animals separately from other herds or even restrict them to their kraals or kholas and carry food and water to the place. Should no further clinical cases occur and two consecutive tests turn out negative, then the restrictions can be lifted. If the disease shows up in other herds, these have to be slaughtered with compensation payment and the Cordon Area has to be adjusted accordingly.
Step four is directly linked with Step three as it is the establishment of a Buffer Zone which encircles the declared Cordon Area with a second 5 km wide ring, giving a 10 km radius around the initial disease focus. All animals in the Buffer Zone are free to move within the area outside the 5 km Cordon Area, but not out of the Buffer Zone; also, no other animals are allowed to enter the Buffer Zone. With the lifting of restrictions in the Cordon Area the Buffer Zone restrictions end as well.
Step five applies only when Steps one to four do not achieve eradication of the CBPP outbreak and new cases continue to appear, in which case area vaccinations have to be started. A contingency stock of 200 000 doses of vaccine was foreseen under this project, together with vaccination and cool-chain equipment. The vaccine should be handed over to the Tanzanian CBPP project TCP/URT/4453 if not used within the time frame of the project. As Steps one to five were never implemented during the project period, procurement of the vaccine never took place; thus saved funds were redirected for procurement of other equipment and to extend the project beyond the original date up to the end of December 1996.
Some project funds were set aside for infrastructure improvements, protective clothing, stationery, transport and supervision. The impact of these provisions, together with training, improved staff performance in general and facilitated future interventions for the control of CBPP or any other disease.
In the Misuku Hills with its steep slopes, where animals are difficult to gather for treatments at the three existing veterinary stations - Chipwela, Misuku and Sokora dip tanks -a new treatment crush has been constructed in the B-register area of Sokora dip tank and several treatment crushes belonging to Misuku dip tank have been rehabilitated.
The provision of two motorcycles for the Disease Control Officer (DCO) at Karonga ADD Management Unit and the Assistant Animal Husbandry Officer (AAHO) in Chitipa RDP office has further improved the supervision of field staff. This is in line with the general programme within the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development, where multiple-donor-funded programmes have led to the motorization of supervisory staff. Presently all Veterinary Area Supervisors, PVOs, DCOs, AHOs, AAHOs, Poultry Extension Officers (PEOs) and some VAs at remote stations are using motorcycles under the government-introduced "ownership scheme". In the context of CBPP control or prevention it is noteworthy that the VA at Ngana dip tank and the Senior Veterinary Assistant at the Songwe Bridge border office are benefiting from this scheme.
Similarly, the provision of bicycles for the DCGs has resulted in an increase in area coverage for control and has also facilitated reporting back to the stations on a daily basis. Protective clothing has improved staff morale and the provision of hardcover notebooks to VAs and DCGs has led to better record keeping, providing a better situation assessment for VAs and making it easier for VAs to prepare their monthly reports for the VASs.
Another factor for the improvement of staff performance in the Songwe area was the increased frequency of supervisory visits from senior staff and international visitors to the field, which enabled the VAs to better appreciate the importance of their daily routine. These visits were partly facilitated through the availability of funds for the regular maintenance and rehabilitation of vehicles, especially from the onset of the project in June 1995 towards June 1996, as during this period all supervisory work of DVOs and PVOs relied entirely on the existing fleet of vehicles.
Some foreseen equipment, such as kerosene refrigerators for the two VASs at Mwamkumbwa EPA office in Chitipa RDP and Kaporo EPA office in Karonga RDP are still to come, as well as vaccination equipment for mass vaccinations; the existing syringes are very old, worn out and difficult to maintain.
Despite the improved transport, communication with outlying stations is still a problem, especially during the "rainy season" when bridges are down and roads are inaccessible, particularly in Chitipa North, Misuku Hills and towards Ngana dip tank in Karonga RDP. Even EPA offices and the border office at Songwe Bridge are not accessible by telephone. On the other hand, communication channels between Tanzania, Veterinary Headquarters, Lilongwe and Karonga Veterinary Office will improve with the installation of computers with electronic-mail facilities procured under the project.
2.4.1 In-service training
Staff training was a major component of the project; as CBPP had never occurred in Malawi, staff at all levels was not familiar with the disease and only textbook knowledge was available for initial briefing of field staff in the Songwe region. Immediately after the news of the outbreak in Tanzania had reached Malawi, the Livestock Disease and Evaluation Unit (LDEU) at the Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL) in Lilongwe prepared a three-page briefing note in English on clinical and post mortem signs. This was used by the DVO, KRADD, with the assistance of the Officer-in-Charge of the Regional Veterinary Laboratory, Mzuzu, to familiarize the PVOs, VASs and VAs along the Songwe River with the disease, both in Chitipa and Karonga.
During his first visit to Malawi the FAO consultant strongly recommended that staff training include all VAs and MIs, not only those from the area of immediate impact at the Songwe River, as it may happen that diseased incubating animals may pass unnoticed and succumb to the disease far away from the border, the disease becoming noticeable only during meat inspection at a slaughterhouse or slaughter slab. A training course for senior staff and two training courses for field staff in Karonga and Chitipa were therefore planned to take place as soon as colour posters and FAO/EMPRES video were available.
Two one-day training sessions were held in November 1995 in Karonga and Chitipa, respectively, for all PVOs, VASs, VAs, MIs, AHOs and AAHOs and a few selected DCGs who were conversant enough in English to follow the course content. The course contents dealt with CBPP history in general and within Africa in particular, clinical and pathological diagnosis and disease prevention and control strategies. The courses were facilitated with visual aids such as diapositive slides and the EMPRES video and the participants were grouped into working groups to test their knowledge on CBPP gained from the April briefings. The group working results showed that basic knowledge had been received and most clinical and pathological features were known in theory but videos and slides made the disease for the first time physically comprehensive. At the end of the sessions, coloured posters were distributed to all station holders and the VAs were urged to organize more farmer meetings to broaden awareness on CBPP and its implications for prevention.
On 8 December 1995 the long postponed course on epidemiology of CBPP for senior veterinarians was organized by DAHI in cooperation with the FAO consultant at Kalikuti Hotel in Lilongwe and nearly all professional veterinarians working in Malawi participated, not only those working under DAHI but also those working on bilateral projects such as the German-funded Basic Animal Health Services project in Mzuzu. The 21 participants were thoroughly exposed to the clinical and pathological features of the disease and shared the consultant's experiences gained from his research work on CBPP, especially on vaccines, incubation periods and mode of infection. Of special interest were the detailed reports of his recent visit to the Botswana outbreak and the measures undertaken by the Botswana officials to contain the disease; laboratory techniques for testing and confirmation were introduced in detail and participants worked out epidemiological features in groups.
In July 1996 rumours were received by the PVO in Chitipa that CBPP had entered from Rukwa region in Tanzania into Mbala district in Zambia; efforts were undertaken to get confirmation on this situation from Zambian or Tanzanian officials to no avail, but indications of some cattle deaths due to suspected CBPP in a village 40 km west of Nakonde at Teko Veterinary Camp in Zambia in March 1996, coincides time-wise with the rumours received. Despite official denial of such occurrences, DAHI decided to organize a training workshop for field staff based along the Zambian border of both Karonga and Mzuzu ADDs. This workshop was held on 8 October 1996 at the Community Development Training Centre, Mzuzu, and was attended by 19 participants - 6 VAs, 1 VAS and the PVO of Rumphi RDP, the district bordering Karonga ADD to the south and sharing the border with Zambia, together with 8 VAs, 1 VAS and 2 MIs from Karonga ADD - all, except the two Meat Inspectors, working in South Chitipa RDP at stations along the Zambian border. The two MIs were from Karonga and Chitipa towns. The course was based on the principles of the courses held before, but the resource persons were all from KRADD, DVO, AHO and both PVOs; course contents reflected CBPP history, the Tanzanian situation, epidemiology, control strategies implemented in KRADD and group working on awareness campaign methods. Visual aids were used for facilitation, and both PVOs gave a first-hand account from their visit of the vaccination campaign in Tanzania during July 1995.
2.4.2 Study tours
The Project Agreement had foreseen several study tours for familiarization of Malawian staff with the unknown disease and for the sake of getting the working knowledge for the initial serology to be carried out in the event of an introduction of the disease into the country.
A visit to active sites in Tanzania was planned and in July 1995 a team was supposed to join a vaccination team in Sumbawanga, Rukwa region, in Tanzania. Upon arrival in Tanzania the programme was changed and the team was taken to Iringa instead. Unfortunately the only herd with animals suffering from CBPP then, had deserted the area after the first cases had been identified and the team missed its chance to be exposed to active CBPP. The team then joined a vaccination campaign and was actively involved in the process, but never exposed to sick animals.
Two participants attended the joint FAO/EMPRES and OAU/IBAR regional workshop on CBPP prevention and control strategies in eastern and southern Africa, which was held in Arusha, Tanzania, from 4 to 6 July 1995.
There is a need for further external assistance in general, as Malawi will not be able to finance a long-term programme of prevention from its own resources. Taking into consideration the CBPP situation in the southern and central African region, it is obviously necessary to concentrate efforts in countries such as Zambia, Malawi and probably Mozambique, which are free of the disease but at high risk of getting infected from neighbouring countries. These countries form a buffer between the two CBPP blocks, the East African and the Southwest African one, both of which are extending presently and if united would make control an expensive exercise for the entire region for years to come.
The short time available for technical assistance under the project was clearly insufficient to achieve a solution to the existing problem of the CBPP epidemic. The TCP project provided only emergency assistance to bridge the gap until longer lasting solutions could be implemented and to enable the Government of Malawi to seek such assistance in the meantime.
Negotiations with the EU have been taken up to set up a Disease Control project for the southern African region in the SADC context where CBPP control and prevention would be a major component. Such projects, however, take time to be planned and implemented and at the same time the problem already exists and has to be dealt with. It is therefore necessary to continue the activities undertaken by projects TCP/MLW/4552 and TCP/URT/4453 in order to consolidate the results achieved and at least maintain the present status of freedom from the disease in Malawi and northwestern Zambia and try to arrest the spread in Tanzania. To achieve this, collaboration, coordination and cooperation among the three countries concerned should continue to be improved and any future project should reflect the regional aspect more than the national.
Continual monitoring and surveillance of CBPP along the borders with Tanzania or even Zambia can only be satisfactorily carried out by well trained field personnel and, owing to the nature of the disease, by cooperation with the cattle owners, traders and butchers, whose awareness of the factors contributing to the spread of the disease is crucial. There is continued need for refresher training of field personnel, especially for Meat Inspectors, in disease recognition and early reporting. There is still need for physical exposure of personnel to the disease, as it was not possible during the project to see and examine animals suffering from CBPP, although staff from top level down to DCGs and even the farmer community were shown videos, slides and textbook illustrations.
In view of the regional aspect of the disease there is need for improved communication among the countries concerned but also within countries, as the disease is frequently present in very remote areas where decision-making institutions are far away, communication channels are scarce and even the infrastructure is inadequate owing to weather conditions. Initial steps towards improvement in this field were made during the project with the establishment of electronic-mail links, but field communication has still some shortcomings, as the event of the CBPP suspected cases in Mbala district has shown. Veterinary headquarters in Lusaka still insists that there have been no CBPP incidents, whereas a visiting delegation from a neighbouring country was told about it freely, although confirmation was lacking as the animals had been eaten.
The surveillance along the borders needs to continue at the established staff levels. During the project the intensified border patrols were not only directed towards CBPP monitoring; they also carried out awareness campaigns, provided information feedback from farmers in these areas to the respective stationholders, thus reporting sick animals and speeding up treatment, and helped to curb cattle thefts. If CBPP should become such a threat that surveillance has to be changed to vaccination campaigns, the DCGs will also be of major importance, as they are well trained to assist in mass vaccinations, in which they were involved in the past, e.g., the FMD and the Rinderpest campaigns.
DOCUMENTS PREPARED DURING THE PROJECT
Consultants' Reports
Protection from transboundary spread of CBPP, Malawi. R.S. Windsor, 1995.
Back-to-office report on backstopping mission to TCP/MLW/4552. P. Roeder, 1996.
Technical Reports
Awareness and preparedness against CBPP in Malawi. C.B. Chizonda, 1995.
Report on a regional workshop on CBPP prevention and control strategies in eastern and southern Africa. G.W. Wanda, 1995.
Protection from transboundary spread of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) report for July 1995. C.B. Chizonda, 1995.
Protection from transboundary spread of contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) report for October to December 1995. C.B. Chizonda, 1995.
Report on the protection from transboundary spread of CBPP for January to October 1996. C.B. Chizonda, 1996.
