24th update on African swine fever activities at FAO
GLOBAL
- The second annual report of the Global Control of African swine fever - a GF-TADs initiative for 2020-2025 outlines FAO and OIE activities to achieve the objectives of the Global Initiative illustrated with examples at national level, regional and global levels and future directions of global control of ASF
- The Global African Swine Fever Research Alliance (GARA) 2022 Scientific Meeting was held on 24-27 May 2022 in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. FAO presented the ASF risk assessment conducted in the Americas and the OutCosT tool for outbreak cost calculation
- FAO published the third edition of the Good emergency management practice: The essentials, or ‘GEMP manual’ in all six UN languages to support the advancement of key components of emergency management
AMERICA
- FAO run a 15-hour online tutored course for the Caribbean on ASF preparedness over the course of 4 weeks.
- FAO to aid 30,000 pig producers in the Dominican Republic and Haiti through USAID and USDA-APHIS funds (in Spanish).
- FAO is looking for experts to support the control of ASF in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, as well as the regional risk communication strategy to prevent the spread of ASF outside the island of Hispaniola.
ASIA
- The ASF situation in Asia & Pacific update, updated every two weeks, covers the situation by country, actions taken (by countries and FAO), and recommendations and useful links/materials
- Between April and September 2022, FAO trained animal health officers in eight provinces and the capital of in Lao People’s Democratic Republic to strengthen capability to prevent and control ASF
- FAO participated in the Northeast India ASF Management planning workshop on 8 July in Assam. The previous days, FAO participated on a training of veterinarians in Assam on ASF control
- FAO and NAQIA conducted the ASF Stock inspectors field practical training in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinee, on 22-24 August 2022
- FAO organised a one-hour webinar on 15 November 2022 to introduce practical implication of ASF guidelines for smallholders
- FAO and WOAH organised a side meeting for the Standing Group of Experts (SGE) on ASF for Asia and the Pacific on 2 November 2022 in Geelong, Australia to revisit priority topics to address for 2023 and beyond
- FAO, in collaboration with Philvet Health Services, developed info-cards on biosecurity:
- For farmers: How to avoid, Biosecurity, Protect your livelihoods, Protect your farm, Swill feeding spreads, What is swill feeding, Stop swill feeding, Isolate new pigs, Report unusual event;
- For veterinarians: Biosecurity is key, Differentiate ASF from other diseases;
- For border checkpoints: Border control, Stop at animal checkpoints;
- Do your part: Clean and disinfect vehicles, Hunt responsively, Travel responsively, Sell only certified pork, Buy safe pork When buying online
EUROPE
- FAO published a Template for a control and eradication plan for African swine fever in wild boar intended as a short guide on how to structure a control and eradication plan for ASF in wild boar
- FAO published a 2-pager on "What hunters need to know about African swine fever and biosecurity measures during hunting"
- The second edition of the handbook African swine fever in wild boar - Ecology and biosecurity provides insights on surveillance and disease management in wild boar based on experiences with ASFV eradication in Belgium and Czechia, as well as other recent experiences in the prevention and control of the disease in wild boar in Europe.
- The 20th meeting of the Standing Group of Experts on African Swine Fever (SGE ASF20) took place face-to-face on 3 October 2022 with the participation of 12 member countries and over 80 representatives and experts. The next meeting (SGE ASF21) is planned to be held face-to-face in Belgium, in June 2023
- An overview of ASF activities of FAO in Europe were presented at SGE ASF20
- FAO and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) held on 1 June 2022 a virtual meeting on AS in the Balkans, which concludes a series of three webinars covering Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia
- FAO and EBRD provided technical and financial support to the Bulgarian Food Safety Authority (BFSA) to organize three one-day simulation exercises in Bulgaria on ASF in August to demonstrate and practice response to a potential ASF outbreak on a domestic pig farm. Each event was attended by 15 participants
- FAO collaboration with ENETWILD to promote the use of iMammalia in the Balkans, to collect data in gap areas about the distribution of wild boar, and to document the presence of wild boar carcasses has been published as an EFSA Scientific Report