Animal production in the Asia-Pacific region has been challenged by various animal disease threats, including highly pathogenic avian influenza and other emerging zoonotic and transboundary animal diseases. Poor conditions in farms, slaughterhouses and traditional food markets raise the risk of disease transmission. Live animals and animal products are traded by multiple actors in complex value chains, making it hard to trace the origins and spread of disease.
FAO ECTAD is engaging a wide range of value chain actors to implement evidence-based risk management and good practices to mitigate the risk, emergence and spread of disease threats. Our work goes from assessing practices and designing interventions, to their implementation and evaluation to inform evidence-based policies. To achieve this, FAO employs different methods, including:
- Experts consultations to develop guidelines for both the public and private sectors
- The assessment of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) through field surveys
- The design and piloting of risk reduction interventions that are co-created with local stakeholders and evaluated to guide scaling-up efforts and inform evidence-based policies
By combining these different methods with a pragmatic approach that draws attention to the local context and existing resource constraints, FAO is supporting countries to implement inclusive and scalable risk reduction interventions and improve food safety and livelihoods throughout the value chain.