Lack of capacity was a significant setback for the Zambian Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, which is supposed to be the first line of defence for detecting and controlling the emergence of infectious transboundary animal diseases in the country. Being under-resourced laboratory and field veterinary personnel could not carry out active surveillance in areas with endemic animal diseases as they lacked the necessary laboratory equipment and skills. Thanks to funding from the European Union (EU), the project, ‘Support Towards Operationalisation of Regional Agricultural Policy (STOSAR) being implemented by FAO in collaboration with the Government of Zambia, has transformed this situation.
“The correct diagnosis in the lab is needed to confirm if a disease is present or absent in a sample. Not knowing what methods to use to make a correct diagnosis for animal diseases by laboratory personnel was a challenge and contributed to the spread of transboundary diseases here,” said Dr Paul Fandamu, the national focal point for the animal health component of the STOSAR Project at the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS). “We are grateful for the laboratory skills training facilitated by the STOSAR that benefitted 47 laboratory personnel from the DVS in the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries. In addition to this, the department also received diagnostic laboratory and surveillance equipment, reagents and consumables. To maintain the progress achieved so far, we will need more technical help in future,” Fandamu added.
Through STOSAR’s intervention, laboratory personnel from Zambia’s Department of Veterinary Services can now diagnose foot and mouth disease (FMD), Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) and monitor occurrences of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). The early detection and diagnosis of transboundary animal diseases through active and passive surveillance has helped Zambia scale up efforts to control the spread of infectious transboundary animal diseases.