Capacity building on ASF in South East Asia

SAFOSO and the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in partnership with USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance (BHA) completed a 10-month project in December 2020 on African Swine Fever (ASF) capacity building for veterinarians in South East Asia. The project supported development of training material on ASF early detection and emergency response specific to the regional and country-level context.

Two virtual regional-level trainings were conducted with three countries each followed by four in-person country-level trainings delivered in a cascade approach. While central-level veterinarians and technical officers were trained in the regional-level workshops, participants of the cascade trainings used the material developed to train a third cohort at provincial and district levels in their local languages.

Some of the challenges to control ASF identified by SAFOSO and FAO Animal Health teams include biosecurity implementation in smallholder contexts in the region, practical guidance on depopulation and disposal, approach to restocking, and risk communication among all stakeholders in the value chain. Separate field materials were developed to meet participants needs including ASF disinfectant and outbreak investigation supply guides.

SAFOSO and FAO are working together in the next phase of the project of ASF cascade trainings with veterinarians and technical officers in Lao PDR, Philippines, and Thailand in which a new module on ASF risk communication is introduced.

For more information on ASF visit FAO Animal Health page.