Southern African countries urged to put in place early warning systems to counter emerging new pests and diseases

By Wallace Mawire [caption id="attachment_40419" align="alignleft" width="300"] Chimimba David Phiri, Subregional Coordinator for
Southern Africa for the Food and Agriculture Organization[/caption] Countries in southern Africa and the entire sub-Saharan region have been urged to have early warning or alert systems that are fully functional to enable policy makers to take quick action and trigger timely and appropriate responses, based on accurate and timely information in the midst of perennial emergence of new pests and disease. According to Chimimba David Phiri, Subregional Coordinator for Southern Africa for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and Moetapele Letshwenyo, Subregional Representative for Southern Africa for the World Organisation for Animal Health, the recent emergence of HPAI, as well as that of the fall armyworm late last year through to 2017, have revealed that most countries do not have updated contingency plans. “The perennial emergence of new pests and diseases is another strong call for updating of contingency plans at national and regional level. It is also important to review legal frameworks, strengthen regional coordination and in-country collaboration among sectors, and to ensure that national contingency plans are harmonized and aligned to the SADC regional HPAI control strategy,” the experts say. They add that Avian Influenza is a virus of birds causing illness and death not only in domesticated birds, but also in wild birds. When an outbreak occurs, it becomes difficult to contain as it spreads rapidly through poultry flocks. Avian influenza can spread through direct contact between susceptible and infected birds, or contact with their secretions and excretions such as respiratory discharges or faeces. The disease can also spread through contaminated feed, equipment, clothing and footwear. “It attacks both free-range family poultry and intensively reared birds on large-scale commercial production sites with the same lethal results. As such, its emergence for the first time within the region should jerk all stakeholders into collective action, as it also knows no national borders,” the experts have said. It is also reported that commercial producers are particularly affected as they bear the brunt of the economic losses that are likely to obtain. They however add that the impacts are far reaching as the commercial poultry industry provides employment and supplies day old chicks to smallholder poultry keepers, most table eggs and poultry meat. As such, any shock to this industry would have far reaching consequences including job losses, shortages of poultry food products in the markets and food price increases. They have also reported that the likelihood of new outbreaks of Avian Influenza in the region remains high. “However, producers can protect susceptible poultry flocks by strengthening biosecurity measures and national authorities need to strengthen preparedness and response capacities, controls and measures put in place to monitor disease in poultry flocks and in wild bird populations, and to ensure compliance with import and export controls,” they say. According to the experts, everyone, including consumers, should be aware of the potential of avian influenza virus to cause disease and death in domestic poultry, as well as how it can be transmitted. Some strains of the Avian Influenza virus are reported to have the potential to become infectious to humans although the H5N8 Virus currently reported in Southern Africa has not been known to affect human health. “It is of paramount importance to always adhere to the advice, instructions and precautions issued by the competent authorities,” according to the experts