May 3, 2007
ACDI/VOCA’s AgVANTAGE Joins Georgian Effort to Prevent Avian Flu Outbreaks
ACDI/VOCA’s AgVANTAGE project held a conference May 3 to discuss Georgia’s avian influenza (AI) preparedness and response program. It was an effort to both review progress and build momentum for the nationwide effort that AgVANTAGE has helped to coordinate.
Opening the event, Deputy Minister of Agriculture Aleko Tsintsadze stated, “The avian influenza virus is a major global challenge, which threatens the livelihoods of poultry farmers, economic growth and countries’ overall sustainable development. Therefore, developing an effective and coordinated approach is key to averting this common threat. Georgia has been committed to fighting the virus and, in collaboration with donor organizations and commercial poultry farms, it is taking appropriate steps to prepare for highly pathogenic avian influenza.”
A panel featuring Deputy Head of the Georgian National Service for Food Safety, Veterinary and Plant Protection Jambul Maghlakelidze, who is also an advisor to the Minister of Agriculture on AI, and the Coordinator of the Prime Minister’s Avian Influenza Project Implementation Team Nino Moroshkina pursued a detailed discussion of Georgia’s readiness to combat the scourge.
The first case of AI in Georgia was reported in February 2006, but prompt measures localized the disease and eradicated the threat, and no human cases were reported. Through the AgVANTAGE project, ACDI/VOCA assists the national government, donor organizations and commercial poultry farms to counter the threat, raise public awareness and prepare for an effective response. ACDI/VOCA has partnered with USAID/Georgia, the Georgian Prime Minister’s Avian Influenza Project Implementation Team, the Georgian Ministry of Agriculture, the World Bank, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the National Service for Food Safety, Veterinary and Plant Protection.
In order to strengthen the country’s preparedness, response and surveillance efforts, a plan was developed in close cooperation with the Prime Minister’s Avian Influenza Project Implementation Team—the main coordination body in Georgia—and the World Bank. It called for developing a preparedness and response plan, building capacity, improving the material base and raising public awareness.
The Georgia Ministry of Agriculture initially drafted “Georgia’s Preparedness and Response Plan”; however, at the ministry's request, the AgVANTAGE project, in cooperation with the local government, donor organizations and commercial poultry farms, finalized the plan and brought it into compliance with existing legislation. A final version of the plan has been forwarded to the ministry for adoption.
At present, Georgia has 9 regional headquarters for surveillance and response, which cover 64 regional centers. Seven veterinary diagnostic laboratories are currently operating, and four more will soon open. In order to upgrade Georgia’s material base and protect field workers from contracting or spreading AI, AgVANTAGE and its partners have provided protective and decontamination equipment and rapid testing and sampling kits to the National Service for Food Safety, Veterinary and Plant Protection, the Georgian National Laboratory, the Subsidiary Office of the Ministry of Agriculture in Adjara and the Laboratory of the Ministry of Agriculture in Adjara. Specialized biosecurity equipment was also provided to four commercial farms.
The Georgian government employs currently over 500 veterinarians, of whom approximately 300 work in the field, laboratory or supervisory positions. The anti-AI collaboration provided training throughout Georgia to build veterinarian capacity to identify, contain and respond to pandemic AI. As a result, over 120 state-employed professional veterinarians and laboratory staff are prepared to respond to an outbreak. In addition, training was provided to 15 employees of 4 commercial farms.
AgVANTAGE has been important to the dissemination of information. The project helped to create a biosecurity DVD that shows farmers how to prevent the spread of the disease, an informational brochure oriented to the general public and an AI manual, which contains in-depth technical information for veterinarians.
To further strengthen Georgia’s effort to combat AI, AgVANTAGE is developing a next phase of assistance facilitated through the World Bank. The project will focus on three main components:
- Human Health This component will be implemented in close collaboration with the Georgian Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Affairs and will enhance the public health program planning and coordination, strengthen the national public health surveillance systems and increase the health system response capacity.
- Animal Health This component will be implemented together with the Ministry of Agriculture; it is aimed at strengthening National HPAI Preparedness and Prevention capability, disease surveillance and diagnostic and containment capacity.
- Strategic Communications This component is designed to promote awareness and safeguard human health.
In 2002 ACDI/VOCA began creating economic opportunities and rejuvenating the Georgian economy through a $23 million, USAID-funded Support Added Value Enterprise Activity, now called AgVANTAGE. The project strengthens the capacity of Georgia’s agricultural sector to capitalize on export opportunities by mitigating critical value chain constraints to enable Georgian producers, processors and marketers to compete in global markets.
AgVANTAGE’s public outreach and training activities for veterinarians, farmers and the general population, as well as procurement and distribution of safety equipment for animal surveillance and response activities has been instrumental in combating the AI threat. ACDI/VOCA’s continued engagement will seek to ensure that Georgia is prepared to cope with avian influenza.