The regional 6th cycle training workshop for National Focal Points on Wildlife for Europe was held in Warsaw, Poland, on 27-29 June 2023. The meeting brought in a total together 43 participants, including 33 National Focal Points on Wildlife. This workshop aimed to provide knowledge on the latest updates from WOAH relating to wildlife health, offer opportunities for sharing experiences, and discuss surveillance systems and management of wildlife diseases. The WOAH Collaborating Centre for Wildlife, US Geological Survey National Wildlife Health Center, USA, provided expert training supported by the 6th Cycle Training Manual on Wildlife Health Information Management.
Participants learn more about wildlife disease management and best practices, including the system thinking approach to disease management. The seminar combined a series of presentations from experts from WOAH Collaborating Centers and national focal points, a series of exercises, including the ALERT board game demo, and a field visit to a deer breeding farm.
The meeting provided an excellent opportunity to reinforce networking through experience-sharing and discussion between participants and to build a wildlife health network at the regional level. WOAH is very grateful to the European Union and Italy for funding the seminar and to the Polish General Veterinary Inspectorate for the kind support of the organisation and for hosting this event.
Workshop programme
| DAY 1: 27 June 2023 | ||||||
| Session 1: Opening
Chair: Dr Tomasz Grudnik |
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| Opening remarks | Dr Krzysztof Jazdzewski (WOAH Delegate, Poland) | |||||
| Dr Estelle Hamelin WOAH (Sub-Regional Representative in Brussels) | ||||||
| Introduction, objectives of the workshop and ToRs of the Focal Points | Dr Dharmaveer Shetty, Wildlife Networks Coordinator, WOAH, Preparedness and Resilience Department, Paris | |||||
| Interactive Icebreaker Exercise Strategy Game to enhance the value of the Wildlife Focal Point in the WOAH Framework | All | |||||
| Session 2: Wildlife disease management – the basics
Chair: Dr Estelle Hamelin |
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| Wildlife Health Activities at WOAH | Dr Dharmaveer Shetty | |||||
| General principles of disease management and control in wildlife | Dr Thierry Work, USGS National Wildlife Health Center (WOAH Collaborating Centre) | |||||
| Introduction to Systems Thinking for Wildlife Disease Management | Dr Daniel Walsh, USGS National Wildlife Health Center (WOAH Collaborating Centre) | |||||
| Introduction to One Health – A FAO Virtual Learning Center (VLC) course | Dr Dora Kovacs, FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia | |||||
| Session 3: Wildlife disease management – Communication – best practices and challenges
Chair: Dr Tomasz Grudnik |
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| Combining local, indigenous and scientific knowledge to enhance wildlife health surveillance | Dr Matilde Tomaselli, Polar Knowledge Canada | |||||
| Managing disease events in wildlife focus on communication – sharing experience by National Focal Points for Wildlife: | ||||||
| Control of African Swine Fever in Wild Boar in Belgium (2018 – 2020), the network of communication | Dr Annick Linden, Belgium | |||||
| Israel Wildlife Disease Surveillance Program | Dr Roni King, Israel | |||||
| Epizootic monitoring of wildlife in the Republic of Kazakhstan | Dr Talgat Karibayev, Kazakhstan | |||||
| Chronic Wasting Disease an emergent health threat to European cervids | Dr Jørn Våge, Norway | |||||
| DAY 2: 28th June 2023 | ||||||
| Session 4: Wildlife disease management – best practices
Chair: Dr Estelle Hamelin |
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| Day one remarks | Dr Valeria Colombo, WOAH | |||||
| Best practices in disease management, control in wildlife: case study on systems thinking for managing wildlife health | Dr Thierry Work, USGS National Wildlife Health Center (WOAH Collaborating Centre) | |||||
| Root causes / drivers of disease and management The epidemiological situation of rabies in Poland. Disease control experience |
Dr Sylwia Kiełczykowska, Poland | |||||
| Respiratory disease in North American bighorn sheep | Dr Daniel Walsh | |||||
| Group exercise: best practices in disease management and control in wildlife- Identifying socio-economic drivers | Dr Thierry Work and Dr Daniel Walsh | |||||
| FIELD VISIT | ||||||
| Deer Breading Farm (Cervus) | ||||||
| DAY 3: (29th June 2023) | ||||||
| European Bison conservation | Dr W. Bielecki Warsaw University of Life Sciences (SGGW) | |||||
| Session 5: Wildlife disease management – from theory to action
Chair: Dr Dharmaveer Shetty |
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| Tabletop exercise: Applying systems thinking to understand the root causes/drivers of challenges facing wildlife health and affect meaningful change | Dr Daniel Walsh and Thierry Work | |||||
| Discussion – Lessons learned from previous wildlife disease outbreak/event responses | Dr Daniel Walsh | |||||
| Exercise: Network building and communication | ||||||
| Group exercise: The EBO-SURSY game “ALERT” | ||||||
| Closing Ceremony and Certificate Distribution | ||||||
