This October 17th and 18th, representatives of Colombia and Venezuela in the field of animal and agricultural health will will meet in Cúcuta with the aim of coordinating joint actions to eradicate foot and mouth disease in America.
Anggy Polanco // Correspondent lapatilla.com
Among those attending the meeting are Wilmer Alcázar, National Director of Comprehensive Animal Health of Insai of Venezuela; Héctor Conde, National Coordinator of the National Foot-and-Mouth Disease Eradication Program, and the regional directors of Insai in Zulia, Apure and Táchira. The board of directors of the Venezuelan Foundation for Animal Health Services also participate.
From Táchira State, Wilmer Alcázar explained that this second meeting is held within the framework of the agreements reached in a meeting in Brasilia this year, with Panaftosa and the Colombian Institute of Agriculture, to learn about the program that Colombia is implementing to eliminate this viral disease which affects all cloven hoof animals (ungulates).
He indicated that Venezuela has made progress in its livestock vaccination program, but still needs to reinforce vaccination, epidemiological surveillance and edu-communication throughout the border area, and that is why they value the experience and current epidemiological status of Colombia in relation to Aphthous fever.
At the end of the October 18 agenda, they hope to discuss phytosanitary issues in both countries to monitor and prevent, control and eradicate Fusarium TR4 that currently damages plantain and banana crops, and for which Venezuela has activated all international protocols. Thus they will establish an agreement to strengthen phytosanitary programs in general.
Alcázar stated that Venezuela has “a sovereign national declaration of being a country free of foot-and-mouth disease,” since according to the official record, the last outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease occurred in 2013, so Venezuela has been without outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease for 10 years in a row.
However, he said that these data must be scientifically demonstrated before international organizations, a prcess that they want to learn from Colombia. He explained that about 7 million head of cattle are being vaccinated each cycle, in two phases. The second cycle began last Sunday and lasted two months.
Alcázar advised buying vaccines only through authorized sites in Venezuela, since the characteristics of this biological must meet technical aspects, safety, stability, among others. On the other hand, the smuggled vaccine does not have technical guarantees nor does it guarantee that it has gone through the appropriate controls and care such as the essential cold chain, which must maintain the vaccine below 7 degrees Celsius at all times for its conservation.
Veterinary doctor Héctor Conde pointed out that the second vaccination cycle has new technical requirements as informed by Panaftosa experts during a technical visit in Venezuela. Some aspects are the mobilization of livestock, documentation of the vaccination record, inspection strategies and vaccine quality control, among others.
“Part of the meeting will be to define these strategies with Colombia, which will focus mainly on vaccination in the border areas and addressing the difficulties of access and control that can be surmounted with a more effective binational strategy.”