The meeting of the Regional Advisory Groups (RAG) on Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) under the West Eurasia Roadmap was held on 2–4 July in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The event was jointly organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), and the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD). The meeting was arranged within the Global Framework for the Progressive Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases (GF-TADs) and was generously supported by the Food Safety Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan, with funding provided by the European Union.
The RAG meeting in Baku was focused on the PPR eradication progress and Progressive Control Pathway for FMD control (PCP-FMD), which serves as a guiding framework for national strategies, forming part of coordinated regional control efforts. Each year, countries are encouraged to conduct self-assessments using dedicated tools such as the FMD-PCP Self-Assessment Tool (SAT).
RAG members from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, Armenia, Türkiye, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia reviewed progress in their countries in terms of the effectiveness of control and eradication activities, epidemiological assessment, strategy implementation, and critical competencies in FMD-PPR control.
The Simulation Exercise was organized by the Azerbaidjani veterinary authority along with the RAG meeting to improve response skills of the veterinary services and other related organizations, as well as the preparedness of the country in case of simultaneous FMD and PPR outbreak. The simulation included table-top and field exercises. Scientists and industry professionals from Central Asia, as well as experts from EuFMD, FAO, FAO REU, and ARRIAH, attended the exercise as observers.
