Tenth Meeting: Standing Group of Experts on African Swine Fever

Regional GF-TADs: Tenth Meeting of the Standing Group of Experts on African Swine Fever for Asia and the Pacific

Background

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly fatal hemorrhagic disease that affects domestic and wild pigs of all ages. ASF has caused immense economic losses, disrupted the pork supply chain, and threatens food security in many countries in the region. Since the first ASF outbreak in China in August 2018, a total of 20 countries have reported ASF (as of February 2025). Now, the region is managing ASF as an endemic disease and is trying to minimize the impacts of ASF on livelihoods and food security.  

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) are working together to strengthen regional collaboration to tackle ASF. A Standing Group of Experts on ASF (SGE-ASF) for Asia and the Pacific was founded in April 2019 under the Global Framework for the Progressive Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases (GF-TADs) umbrella to promote the regular exchange of information and documentation of best practices.  

The Ninth Meeting of the Standing Group of Experts (SGE) on ASF for Asia and the Pacific, held in Manila from 25 to 27 July 2024, highlighted the role of risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) in ASF prevention and control. Building on the success of the RCCE strategies, the following meeting focused on Alternatives to traditional ASF disease control, as prioritized by member countries. This theme addressed the need for strengthening strategies for ASF prevention and control in Asia and the Pacific. The tenth meeting was held in Bangkok, Thailand from 10 to 12 June 2025.  

Objectives

This meeting aimed to bring together leading experts, policymakers, and partners to examine the current global and regional ASF situation, review progress on past recommendations, and discuss a potential range of promising alternative strategies to ASF control, in line with key recommendations from the previous SGE-ASF meetings, FAO global and regional consultations on ASF, and the Global Coordination Committee for ASF.

The specific objectives of this meeting were to:

• Assess progress on prior meeting recommendations and address current epidemiological trends
• Share best practices on ASF prevention and control, including alternative strategies to cover prevention, control, management and recovery
• Strengthen regional coordination, information sharing, and the application of best practices, and WOAH standards
• Assess implementation, identification of gaps, and scale up the best practices on RCCE models to support alternative ASF control strategies

Details

Dates: 10 – 12 June 2025

Agenda: PDF

Photo Album: Flickr

Venue: Bangkok, Thailand

Participation: By invitation