[Surveillance and control of imported animal diseases. Role of the OIE and veterinary services]

Abstract

Many animal diseases have received major media attention in recent years, including foot-and-mouth disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and avian influenza. Epizootics are on the increase, notably owing to globalization, ecological upheavals, and global warming. It is estimated that three-quarters of emerging and re-emerging diseases are zoonoses, i.e. diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans. Changes in eating habits, along with population growth and increasingly large populations at risk have all contributed to the upsurge of zoonoses. The fight against animal diseases is a major issue not only for animal health but also for human health, economics and politics. Veterinary services, whose work is recognized as an "international public good" by the World Bank, must be considered in terms of all those involved in animal health, including formal services, veterinarians and their assistants and organized livestock farmers, working together in close partnership. When veterinary services fail in a single country, it is the entire world that is threatened. Animal disease outbreaks are even more of a problem when they occur in countries that have no effective surveillance and preventive animal health network. Veterinary Services are an important instrument of public health and are necessary to protect the livestock economy. Industrialized countries must therefore help developing countries to eradicate their animal diseases, and countries with efficient veterinary infrastructures must encourage failing countries to adopt an effective early detection and rapid response system. OIE, the World Organization for Animal Health, has developed quality standards and norms for evaluating veterinary services, and provides an interactive tool (PVS, Performance of Veterinary Services) designed to facilitate their implementation. Assessments conducted by specifically trained experts allow international donors such as the World Bank to target investments where they are most needed.