Training program on Quarantine Management Practices and Laboratory Diagnosis of trade limiting diseases (FMD, RVF, PPR and Brucellosis) for veterinary staff under the Enhancing Somali Livestock Trade Project (ESOLT)
© 2016 AU-IBAR. Group photo of participants at Training program on Quarantine Management Practices and Laboratory Diagnosis of trade limiting diseases (FMD, RVF, PPR and Brucellosis) for veterinary staff under the Enhancing Somali Livestock Trade Project at Animal Health Research Institute, Cairo, Egypt, from 30th October to 6th November 2016.African Union Interafrican Bureau for Animal resources (AU-IBAR), recently implemented a training Programme on Quarantine Management Practices and Laboratory Diagnosis for over fourty Somali veterinary personnel drawn from the line ministries, export quarantines, diagnostic laboratories and university veterinary graduates.
The training was aimed at promoting intra and interregional livestock trade and opening the markets with Egypt by raising awareness and diagnostic skills for quarantine management and operations as well as laboratory diagnosis and interpretation of laboratory results of common transboundary animal diseases (TADs) that limit trade.
To mitigate the risk of introduction of TADs to importing countries, live animals from these areas, particularly in the Greater Horn of Africa (GHoA), destined for export are held in quarantine stations prior to export. This approach has allowed countries in the GHoA to access livestock markets despite the difficulty of achieving whole country or zonal disease free status.
Whereas potential of Somalia to export livestock to Egypt is huge, Egypt’s growing population of over 91 million, and the strong historical and cultural ties between the two countries; the challenge of implementing, Sanitary standards has ensured an inconsistent supply.