Prof. Dr. Achariya Sailasuta, FAVA Secretary General welcomed WSAVA’s animal welfare sub-committee chaired by Dr. Shane Ryan, Past president of FAVA and president elected of WSAVA. The meeting was successfully held at FAVA office in Bangkok, during 21st -22nd August, 2017.
The 39th FAVA council meeting had been successfully conducted on 26th August, 2017 as a joint meeting with the 33rd WVC 2017, in Incheon, Korea. It is indeed an impressive and constructively FAVA council meeting with the great supports from our members and the networking organizations internationally. FAVA has created a friendly platform for not only our
country members but also globally. We truly recognized the numerous efforts and well organized of the host association, the Korean Veterinary Medical Association, KVMA. Who had conducted the great success of 33rd WVC 2017, 27th – 30th August, 2017, Korea.
On behalf of Prof. Dr. Dau Ngoc Hao, President of FAVA and FAVA country members,
FAVA would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to all the FAVA councilors, Afghanistan Veterinary Association, AfVA, Indonesian Veterinary Medical Association, IVMA, Japan Veterinary Medical Association, JVMA, Korean Veterinary Medical Association, KVMA, Mongolian Veterinary Association, MVMA, Myanmar Veterinary Association, MVA, Nepal Veterinary Association, NVA, Philippines Veterinary Medical Association, PVMA, Singapore Veterinary Association, SVA, Taiwan Veterinary Medical Association, TWVMA, Thai Veterinary Medical Association under Royal Patronage, TVMA, Veterinary Association Malaysia, VAM, Vietnam Veterinary Association, VVA, Associated member, Asian Society of Conservation Medicine(ACCM), distinguished guests, Dr. Rene Carlson, President of WVA, Prof. Dr. Peter Thornber, President of CVA, Mr. Phillip Wilson, WAP’s representative, Dr. Natasha Lee, PGCE project manager, Ms. Doljinsuren, AVSA and FAVA members’ colleagues. In this regards, FAVA would like to congratulate, Dr. Quaza Nizammuddin Hasan Nizam, President of VAM and his team from Sarawak on being awarded the 21th FAVA Congress, in 2020, Sarawak, Malaysia. All of which have made this FAVA council meeting success.
FAVA has attended WVA’s activities, WVA council meeting, WVA GA meeting. FAVA has created a friendly platform for not only our country members but also globally. We truly recognized the numerous efforts and well organized of the host association, the Korean
Veterinary Medical Association, KVMA. Who had conducted the great success of
33rd WVC 2017, 27th – 30th August, 2017, Korea.
The World Veterinary Association (WVA) with Ceva Santé Animale (Ceva) recognize 6 outstanding veterinarians for their commitment to promoting the welfare of Animals
On 29th August 2017, during the 33rd World Veterinary Congress in Incheon, Korea, the 1st WVA Global Animal Welfare Awards co-founded and supported by Ceva Santé Animale was given to six veterinarians representing each of the six WVA world regions.
The WVA Animal Welfare Awards recognize and reward veterinarians who have provided outstanding and exemplary welfare-related services to animal owners, hostels, fellow veterinarians, and the public.
The 6 winners of the WVA AW 2017 Award are:
Dr Joseph Othieno from Kenya
Dr Othieno has raised awareness of animal health issues in Kenya and on a wider scale through his journalism. As well as being a respected veterinarian, he regularly writes articles on a series of veterinary issues in the mass media including appearances on television. A short video on Dr Othieno activities can be found here.
Dr Sean Wensley from the UK
Dr Wensley has concentrated much of his professional life on the issue of animal welfare. He worked on various international welfare projects as a young volunteer veterinarian. He is currently Senior Vice President of the British Veterinary Association and has been active in promoting that organisation’s strategy on animal welfare and promoting the five key factors in the UK’s Animal Welfare regulations. A short video on Dr Wensley activities can be found here.
Dr Marlyn Romero from Colombia
Dr Romero was nominated for the Awards following her work in Colombia and Latin America on the research into animal welfare issues particularly in slaughterhouses. She has authored numerous publications on the subject and is leading a research group looking at animal welfare on the theme of ‘One Health’. A short video on Dr Romero activities can be found here.
Dr Daniel Ventura from the Philippines
Dr Ventura is cited for his work in promoting animal health in his home country, particularly in the field of veterinary education and spearheading a steering committee that has promoted the adoption of a syllabus entitled ’Advanced Concepts in Animal Welfare’. He has also led a campaign called ‘Better Lives for Dogs’ and recently organised a mass rabies vaccination day for dogs and their owners in Cebu City, Philippines. A short video on Dr Ventura activities can be found here.
Professor Johann (Hans) Coetzee from USA
Prof Coetzee has been active in the animal welfare area for many years particularly in the area of cattle where he has led research looking at ways of advancing methods to treat livestock better. Key examples of his work include co-founding the biannual International Symposium on Beef Cattle Welfare. He has also been involved in work looking at the subject of pain management issues in the production of farm animals and has been a regular commentator in the media on these subjects. A short video on Dr Coetzee activities can be found here.
Dr Shehab Osman from Egypt
Dr Osman was nominated for his work as Chairman of the Cairo Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) and for promoting a variety of animal welfare issues in his country and on the international scene. He also advises Egyptian government departments and the health authorities on a number of areas including the management of stray dogs which is a huge problem in Egypt. He also acted as Chairman of the Egyptian Federation for Animal Welfare for four years. A short video on Dr Osman activities can be found here.
Presiding over the Awards ceremony were Dr. René Carlson, Immediate Past President of WVA and Dr. Marc Prikazsky, Chairman & CEO of Ceva said;
René Carlson: I am delighted and honored to present here today the 2017 WVA Animal Welfare Awards to 6 remarkable veterinarians from across the world, who are contributing in their daily lives to the protection and welfare of various species of animals. In addition, these individuals provide information to the public about animal welfare best practices.
Marc Prikazsky: The Welfare of Animals is today a primary concern for many people across the world. As our approach to the wellbeing of animals continues to evolve, so too must the education and the role of the veterinary community change, to reflect its commitment to animal welfare and to become a true advocate and leader in this field. As a veterinarian, I am very proud that Ceva has been able to support the WVA in establishing these awards and would like to congratulate each of the individual winners on their immense contribution to improving the welfare of animals.
The Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU) is a newly established national University of Nepal. It was established in 2010 with the motto of overall development of agriculture, livestock and forestry through quality teaching, research and extension. The mission of AFU is to produce internationally competent human resource to promote education, research and development in agriculture, livestock, forestry and allied disciplines. There are three academic faculties and biotechnology center under AFU. The academic faculty includes Faculty of Agriculture, Faculty of Animal Science, Veterinary Science & Fisheries, and Faculty of Forestry.
Buffalo is a very important livestock commodity, especially in South Asia. Buffaloes are considered as the “black gold” among the Nepalese farmers. There are about 5.17 million heads of buffaloes in Nepal that contributes greatly in national economy and Animal Source Food supply system. Buffalo contributes about 67.7% and 57.4% to the total milk and meat production in the country, respectively. There are 3 indigenous breeds of buffaloes in Nepal; Lime, Parkote and Gaddi in the hills, whereas, Terai and Inner Terai region is dominated by Murrah & their crossbred population. Because of the increasing trend of meat consumption in the country and great demand of buffalo meat, the slaughtering rate of buffalo is rapidly increasing as compared to the herd replacement rate causing a danger of depleting buffalo number in the country. Thus, immediate attention for conserving the buffalo population and its productivity is important.
The Agriculture and Forestry University in collaboration with Ministry of Livestock Development, Nepal Agriculture Research Council, and Michigan State University, USA is organizing an “International Buffalo Symposium 2017” on November 15-18, 2017 in Chitwan, Nepal with the theme “Enhancing Buffalo Production for Food and Economy”. The objective of the symposium is sharing knowledge among national and international scientists working on buffalo production.
The WVC2017 is approaching fast and we would like to encourage you and your members to join us in Incheon, Korea on 27-31st August 2017 and to enjoy an outstanding educational and social program for veterinarians from all over the world.
In addition to the scientific program prepared by the WVA2017 Organizing Committee, the WVA will hold the following activities:
Please forward this announcement to your individual members and encourage them to join the WVA in Incheon, Korea and to participate in the WVA Activities.
Happy May! Earlier this month EPT and the GVP received acclaim in Time magazine’s ‘The World is not Ready for the next Pandemic.’ Scroll on for access to that story, exciting updates from West Africa, the latest Emerging Pandemic Threats update, and a recent case study publication. At the very end you’ll find the latest from the UNFCCC (UN Framework Convention for Climate Change), a synthesis paper that brings climate change to the One Health conversation.
Late last week, TIME magazine launched a story featuring our Predict project. The authors dive deep into the current state of viral affairs, and make a case for why we need to continue efforts to get ahead of epidemics. Read the full story here.
Summary:
481 poultry outbreaks, 191 wild bird outbreaks, 1 camel outbreak, and 79 human infections with 10 pathogens (various avian and swine influenza viruses, MERS-CoV, monkeypox) were reported by 24 countries between April 11 and May 7, 2017. These outbreaks/infections occurred between November 2016 and May 2017.
Recent trends:
After several months of very high activity, H5N8 HPAI outbreaks in birds and H7N9 AI human infections continue to decline. This is typical of avian influenza viruses which are at their most active between about November and March. Because of an absence of large hospital clusters, the total number of MERS-CoV cases between January and April 2017 is lower than for the comparable time period in all years since 2013.
Specific pathogens and countries affected:
Data sources:
http://www.who.int/csr/don/en/
http://www.who.int/influenza/human_animal_interface/en/
http://www.afro.who.int/en/clusters-a-programmes/whe/outbreaks-and-other-emergencies-updates.html
http://www.oie.int/wahis_2/public/wahid.php/Diseaseinformation/WI
http://empres-i.fao.org/eipws3g/
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/index.htm
http://www.moh.gov.sa/en/CCC/pressreleases/pages/default.aspx
Guinea completes its JEE!
The Government of Guinea (Ministries of Health, Livestock, Agriculture, Environment, and Security) with UN and USG partners successfully completed the WHO Joint External Evaluation (JEE) on April 30th, 2017. Government of Guinea experts across technical areas including surveillance, laboratory, workforce, immunization, emergency response, etc. participated in the JEE with 12 external evaluators from WHO, CDC, USDA and France. The rigorous process highlighted progress since GHSA launched in early 2016, including improved ability to prevent healthcare acquired infections (HCAI), increased biosafety & biosecurity trainings; expanded immunization coverage and capacity; and strengthened surveillance and laboratory capacity. The animal health sector remains weak, but the ongoing USAID GH
SA activities continue to identify gaps and help to address these deficiencies.
FAO provided support to the Minister of Livestock for a site visit to the Central Veterinary Laboratory with the JEE assessors. USAID, through FAO, is providing support for renovations and technical support to the Central Veterinary Laboratory. While the laboratory staff are knowledgeable, the facility needs support to function; and more assistance is needed to increase surveillance for animal health and outbreaks to provide samples to the laboratory. 
A few initial take- aways from the JEE- there was excellent multi-sectoral participation, the process continues to broaden the conversations beyond Ebola response efforts to examine capacity in other priority areas and make recommendations for improvement, and the creation of the National Agency for Health Security (ANSS) in Guinea plays a critical role in the sustainability of the increased national epidemic preparedness and response capacity. It is apparent that the Ebola funding and recovery efforts have already improved capacities in the ability to prevent, detect and respond, but there is much work left to be done in order to achieve GHSA and JEE targets. The Minister of Health, Dr. Abdourahmane Diallo, and the DCM of the US Embassy, Hughes Ogier, participated in the closing session. Minister Diallo discussed the importance continuing collaboration to address gaps and continues to increase capacity across JEE technical areas.
For more information visit the following page.
Ebola Vaccines for Guinea and the World: WHO meeting in Conakry Guinea
During last month’s Ebola Vaccines for Guinea and the World meeting in Conakry, global partners met to (1) emphasize the importance of collaborative efforts to address global public health emergencies, (2) celebrate success of the Ebola vaccine trails in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone; (3) recognize the Government of Guinea’s vision and leadership for the WHO vaccine ring trail; and (4) outline a WHO R&D blueprint for better preparedness and response for future outbreaks. Additionally, 
WHO recognized selected individuals from Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia for their remarkable contributions to the Ebola response. Of note, was James Bangura, PREDICT’s country coordinator in Sierra Leone. US CDC, NIH and USAID participated in the meeting as each agency continues to make important contributions for Ebola vaccination and stockpiles
In response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, global health leaders called for the rapid development and deployment of a licensed Ebola vaccine as part of an integrated outbreak control and prevention strategy; and Gavi created a plan to respond to the Ebola crisis to help ensure access to a vaccine when it becomes available. Beyond the vaccine discussions, Dr. Tolbert Nyenswah, the Director General of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL), discussed the importance of Global Health Security to expand the capacity built for the Ebola outbreak for other diseases; as evidence by their rapid response to a mysterious illness. Sierra Leone’s Health Minister, Dr. Abu Bakar Fotanah, discussed the need for One Health efforts to prevent another outbreak. Overall the workshop served as an excellent forum to celebrate the achievements made together during the Ebola outbreak and while applied lessons learned and discussing areas for improvement.
Post-Ebola Case Study Series from HC3
The Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3) has published a series of case studies examining activities and tools used in the social and behavior change communication (SBCC) strategy to improve healthy behaviors and increase demand for and use of quality reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) services in Guinea as the country continues to recover from Ebola.
Each case study highlights how HC3 is working with Guinea’s hardest hit communities to rebuild both trust in the health system and the quality of care delivered.
