Agencies combine on global strategy to bring FMD under control
03/07/2012
“Recent FMD outbreaks around the globe demonstrate that animal diseases have no boundaries, can have a devastating impact and require a global response,” said Hiroyuki Konuma, the FAO’s regional representative for Asia and the Pacific at the event.
FMD is not a direct threat to human health, the organisations pointed out. However, lost trade opportunities for affected countries are “a global economic burden and a hindrance on human development”. Most importantly, for the poorest farmers who often depend on just a few animals, FMD means “hunger and economic ruin when it strikes and cuts off people’s only source of income and protein”.
Representatives of more than 100 countries attended the meeting in Bangkok.
OIE director general, Bernard Vallat, said that an important part of the strategy would be to strengthen veterinary services responsible for animal disease control. “Positive effects of the strategy will extend far beyond the control of FMD because it represents an opportunity to initiate long-term actions that will enhance veterinary services’ capacity to fight other high-impact diseases of livestock,” he said.
The global annual cost of FMD in terms of production losses and the need for prevention by vaccination has been estimated to be approximately $5 billion, the organisations said, but it pointed out that the severe outbreak that occurred in 2001 in the United Kingdom had “direct and indirect impacts” estimated to have cost as much as $30 billion.
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