The 22nd meeting of the OIE SEACFMD National Coordinators reviewed the past accomplishments of the SEACFMD Campaign and provided key directions for the next Roadmap 2021-2025. One of the key suggestions was for the countries and the SEACFMD Campaign to identify and develop synergies between FMD control and other priority TADs in the region. The meeting also discussed two key technical issues: FMD emergency vaccination for infected countries, and alternative surveillance to improve confidence of disease freedom in FMD-free countries.
The Meeting gathered around 50 participants, including SEACFMD National Coordinators from the members (ASEAN countries, China and Mongolia), representatives from neighbouring countries/territories, scientists from OIE FMD Reference Laboratories and research institutes, and representatives from international organisations and private sectors. In addition to traditional topics, a new dynamic was proposed for this meeting: interactive sessions and targeted training workshops were also organised. This summary only aims at presenting the main outputs of the meeting.
The detailed review of the global and regional FMD situation highlighted the maintenance in the sub-region of O/ME-SA/Ind2001 strain, which now has similar detection frequencies as the historically endemic strains such as O/SEA/Mya-98 and O/ME-SA/PanAsia. Evidences of circulation of Serotype Asia1 in Myanmar via ELISA and VNT were also discussed and should be further explored, with the support of the OIE Reference Laboratories.
In the meantime, an assessment along the Progressive Control Pathway for FMD (PCP-FMD) was organised to assess progress since the 1st evaluation organised during the OIE SEACFMD Sub-Commission meeting in 2017. Countries in PCP Stage 1 & 3 were interviewed by 2 teams composed of OIE, FAO and an FMD expert.
For the first time, an interactive tool (Mentimeter) was used to get the inputs of the participants to share their perception about the progress/impact of the SEACFMD Campaign and their views about the next SEACFMD Roadmap. The outputs will be presented to the OIE Delegates of SEACFMD members at the next SEACFMD Sub-Commission Meeting to be organised at the margin of the 31st OIE Conference of the OIE Regional Commission for Asia, the Far East and Oceania in Japan in September 2019.
Acknowledging that the African swine fever (ASF) crisis will likely reduce the already scarce resources dedicated to animal disease control, a workshop was organised to brainstorm synergies of FMD control with other activities related to livestock health and production. Country representatives came up with practical proposals on synergised efforts in the country’s own context.
Lastly, the participants drafted and prioritised the meeting’s recommendations, identifying these three as of most relevance: 1. to improve the FMD diagnosis at national and regional level and to support the recommendations of the Regional Expert Group on enhancing molecular diagnosis and FMD sampling; 2. To identify and develop synergies between FMD control and other TADs; 3. To strengthen continuous surveillance, including early warning systems, and consider retrospective surveys in case of late or insufficient reporting.
