On 02-04 July the Regional Advisory Groups (RAG) meeting on Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) for the West Eurasia Roadmap was held 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 and funded 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 was organized by the Azerbaidjani veterinary authority along 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 EuFMD1, FAO2, FAO REU3 and ARRIAH4 attended the exercise as observers.
Presentations for the Regional Advisory Group meeting on FMD and PPR of the West Eurasia Roadmap are available for download below
