THE FIRST MAFF-JAPAN/OIE/FAO JOINT CONFERENCE ON SPECIAL TRUST FUND PROGRAMME FOR HIGHLY PATHOGENIC AVIAN INFLUENZA CONTROL AT SOURCE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA (Tokyo, Japan, 25-26 April 2006)
(Background information)
Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) has been recognised in several countries in Southeast Asia such as Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam. The spread of the virus has caused further outbreaks of this disease in poultry and/or wild birds in other countries making clear the imminent threat of further spreading of HPAI.
Since HPAI is endemic in the Southeast Asian region, special attention to this region has become paramount. The outbreaks in these countries indicate that the HPAI virus has established its foothold, continuing to thrive and circulate in the region. It is important for the global community to provide its continual support in order to contain the disease at the most minimal level.
Jointly organised by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan (MAFF-Japan), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) Regional Representation for Asia and the Pacific and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Liaison Office in Japan from 25 to 26 April 2006 here in Tokyo, this Conference was vitally important and timely. The main purpose of this Conference was to commence a sustainable joint Programme that further promotes regional and national strategies for HPAI control at source, including the strengthening of diagnostic and surveillance capabilities under the MAFF-Japan/OIE/FAO Special Trust Fund Programme.
The Conference was opened by H.E. Mr. Mitsuhiro Miyakoshi, Senior Vice Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan. More than 60 participants consisting of representatives and experts, participated in the Conference encompassing 8 Southeast Asian countries, donor countries and agencies as well as regional and international organisations. This important Conference focused on detailed contents including ways of efficient implementation of the Programme with
Member Countries in Southeast Asia and effective outcomes from the MAFF-Japan/OIE/FAO Special Trust Fund Programme.
Through this fruitful Conference, a shared understanding between participants has been vitally forged and deepened by means of the detailed discussions amongst countries, donors and international organisations involved such as OIE and FAO. Taking this opportunity, each of the participating countries presented their papers on their current poultry industries entailing production, disease control strategies and measures, constraints against development of disease control and needs of international cooperation to achieve their targets to control the disease and to develop poultry production.
(Conclusion and recommendations)
Based on these aforementioned reports, the participating countries exchanged their views in formulating appropriate strategies in order to realise the earliest possible detection and control of HPAI in the most efficient manner on a region-wide basis. In these discussions, it was agreed that the effective combination of each component and sound coordination and collaboration between OIE and FAO projects, needs to be implemented on a sustainable basis in conjunction with the ongoing collaborations of recipient countries and other relevant international organisations. For that reason, there is an urgent need to identify constraints against and the needs for the HPAI control strategies at the regional and national levels taking into account experience of the previous and ongoing projects.
Furthermore, this Programme mandated a strong coordination with other donor countries’ projects as well as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank projects in order to realise the synergies to be coalesced. In this regard, participants took note that flexibility of the project implementation should be considered in terms of using the funds and duplicative works must be eliminated in duly raising and promoting HPAI control activities in the Region as soon as possible under the framework of the Special Trust Fund Programme provided by the Government of Japan. It includes the strengthening of National Veterinary Services such as the improvement of diagnostic capability, narrowing the gap between legal framework and its enforcement, disease information sharing, a greater public awareness and advocacy for disease prevention and biosecurity. It also includes improving current chicken raising practices in backyard production system by introduction of practical biosecurity measures. Simulation exercise would be used to test emergency preparedness plans. Those may create more synergistic effects in controlling the disease.
The Programme should be strongly linked with the existing mechanism of GF-TADs (Global Framework of the progressive control for Transboundary Animal Diseases initiated by FAO and OIE).
On a country by country basis, the following will be addressed under the FAO project component:
- Control measures to be strengthened in light of the ongoing outbreak;
- Surveillance, field investigation, prompt reporting, systematic response capability and post-vaccination monitoring will be emphasised;
- Concerted implementations for an early detection and control campaign in all beneficially countries;
- Effective employment of preventative and emergency preparedness measures of HPAI especially in country where no outbreak has yet been reported, but is at risk;
- Public awareness and risk communication;
- Improvement of biosecurity system particularly in the backyard poultry production sector.
OIE proposed to allocate available resources to various activities such as:
- the improvement of regional and national HPAI control strategies including the development of contingency plans;
- collection, analysis and dissemination of technical information to further strengthen regional early warning systems;
- strengthening diagnostic capacity of regional collaborating laboratories and national reference/diagnostic laboratories for HPAI including holding of training courses on advanced HPAI diagnosis and installment of high performance diagnostic equipment and materials;
- providing veterinarians and para-professionals with expertise of HPAI control activities.
The broad project implementation of schedule shared between FAO and OIE will follow the timelines below:
- Strategic project planning [May- June 2006]
- Finalisation of detailed plan of operation and implementation system [end of June 2006]
- Actual project implementation [June 2006 to February 2007]
- Project completion report submitted [March 2007]
- Evaluation [March 2007]
Due to the urgency of meeting the above targeted milestones, consultation with participating countries will resume as soon as possible.
Quick actions should be taken into consideration, based on the current situation of the disease in Southeast Asia and to avoid further spread to other regions and re-occurrences in the countries of the Region, and also based on the fact that the Project was provided under the emergency programme of the Government of Japan.
The effective combination of collaboration and communication between FAO and OIE under the Programme should be enhanced in implementing activities of the control HPAI in the region, as part of Regional GF-TADs Programme.
The effective combination of collaboration and communication between FAO and OIE under the Programme should be enhanced in implementing activities of the control HPAI in the region, as part of Regional GF-TADs Programme.
Each participating country expresses heartfelt appreciation to the Japanese Government for its strong initiative and generous contributions that spearheaded this globally-concerned project.