OIE Regional Coordination Meeting on African horse sickness

On 23 March 2020, Thailand notified an outbreak of African horse sickness (AHS) to the OIE (available here). This was the first report of AHS in South-East Asia and posed a significant challenge to the equine industry and Veterinary Services at both national and regional scales.

A series of webinars were conducted to provide information on this disease new to the region. At the end of these webinars, participants expressed the need to receive regional updates in the future.

Since then, Malaysia has subsequently reported an outbreak (available here), and all other countries in the region are under pressure of possible incursion of AHS. To support members in the emergency preparedness against AHS, the OIE has developed communication material (leaflet and poster) and regional guidelines on Preparedness and Implementation of Emergency Vaccination against AHS.

This coordination meeting was organised in order to share the most recent updates in terms of AHS with Members and key partners. Main objectives were to:

• Update each other on the sanitary situation of Thailand and Malaysia
• Update each other on the import of AHS vaccines
• Update each other on the preparedness in neighbouring countries, including on the import of vaccines
• Update each other on midge surveillance in the region and the possible detection of AHS competent vectors.
• Present the OIE awareness material and introduce the new guidelines: African horse sickness: OIE Guidelines on Preparedness and Implementation of Emergency Vaccination in the Asian Region
• Identify and list remaining needs from countries to further prevent/control AHS