FAO Leads Efforts to Improve Animal Diseases Surveillance within Liberia’s Livestock Secto
Monrovia- The livestock sector is one of the sectors of agriculture that contributes to the rural economy of Liberia as a means of livelihood for farmers. However, the sector is constrained by a number of factors including zoonotic and non-zoonotic animal diseases.
To complement the Government of Liberia’s efforts to improve the livestock sector in terms of capacity enhancement, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) through its USAID GHSA EPT-2 project fund and in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture organized a three-day training on animal diseases surveillance and sample collection techniques for animal health officers from the Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL), Central Veterinary Epidemiology Unit and Animal Production of the MoA.
The overall objective of the training is to strengthen the capacity of central epidemiology and laboratory staff to implement the activities of the Animal Diseases Surveillance and Response System (ADSR) in Liberia developed by the Ministry of Agriculture with technical support from FAO Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases (FAO-ECTAD) through the Global Health Security Program in January 2019.
The three days of training focused primarily on knowledge of ADSR monitored diseases, the use and filling of the various reporting forms, procedures for collection, packaging, transportation and submission of samples, biosecurity and biosafety in the field, the operation of ADSR, and practical works on the collection of different types sample on live and dead animal/poultry.
In their speech of circumstance, Dr. Wolde Abebe, Country Team Leader of the FAO-ECTAD program re-emphasized FAO’s continued commitment to support the government of Liberia and the animal health sector.
“With the training and resources provided, I strongly believe that we will generate accurate data that to be used for informed decision making.”
He said that FAO is impressed with the level of enthusiasm shown by participants during the three-day sitting, “Our support to active disease surveillance is a clear indication of our continued commitment to the livestock sector.”