Agriculture ministry’s efforts for protection of, Consumer & animal wealth from across-border epidemics [Archives:2003/650/Business & Economy]

Yemeni ministry of agriculture is carrying out national campaigns for fighting rapidly contagious animal epidemics crossing borders, which consequently have big negative economic effects. The state administration for animal wealth at the ministry of agriculture is implementing strategic plans aimed at providing protection of the animal wealth against epidemic diseases through carrying out field and laboratory surveys and quarantines and immunizations.
The national campaigns include:
1-Field survey: A survey of animal diseases is intended for knowing the extent of their spread and on the light of that survey an epidemic map in Yemen would be drawn and an assessment of the situation of cattle plague.
2-Quarantine health checking: Supervision on importation of livestock and their products acquires great importance in the process of protecting the Yemeni consumer against diseases that affect both human and animals and also for protecting the animal wealth against epidemics. Veterinary health checkup of the health and product of animals' inputs is very important for ensuring the entry of those products in a high quality decreasing expected economic losses. All that requires a big attention in inlets of the Yemen republic and drawing up suitable mechanism for application of measures and regulations issued for health monitoring.
3- Veterinary watching: Observation process is considered part of the regional information network concerning epidemic diseases. The process is concerned with providing necessary information for the network and to exchange it as it is significant at both local and regional levels and this process is necessary for early warning about epidemic diseases. It would ensure rapid interaction for taking necessary arrangements for countering any sudden illness that might happen in order to curb its spread and reducing its economic damage.
4- Laboratory diagnosis: Laboratory services are very important for fighting and controlling animal diseases and epidemics through offering accurate diagnostic services and information on symptoms of animal epidemics and the common diseases. Joint effort of field clinical observation system and offering samples to laboratories that examine them is the core of the national watching system for developing strategies of controlling and observing animal and common diseases. The central veterinary laboratory has so far carried out examination of 4339 samples of cattle plague and 20149 samples of small ruminants, 4671 samples of the rift valley disease, and 757 samples of hydrophobia.
5- Immunization: Immunization is one of the most important methods in fighting many of the animal diseases particularly the virus epidemics. Much effort is exerted in this regard in compliance with recommendations issued by the workshop on veterinary campaigns for providing human and material potentials for implementation of combating diseases activities and to contain any epidemic that may emerge and also the implementation of fighting by immunization of diseases that require that.
Immunization activities would be continued in all districts of the governorates. These campaigns would be followed with an assessment process at the end of the year to get certain about the extent of the effectiveness of immunization effort and to evaluate the level of immunity in animals by conducting laboratory checking of random samples of animals from immunized areas. Upon that valuation the state administration of animal wealth would reconsider its immunization policy. These campaigns will be accompanied with guidance and information programs to make farmers aware of the importance of immunization campaigns and observation for fighting animal epidemics.
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