Global perspective for foot and mouth disease control
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Date
2014-03
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Abstract
The world distribution of foot and mouth disease (FMD) is almost a mirror image
of the global economic structure. In general, industrialised countries are free
while the disease is endemic in developing countries. In recent years, several
incursions of FMD have been recorded in countries belonging to the Organization
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), all of which have been
financially and socially costly to eliminate. At the same time, this single disease
bars many developing countries from participation in formal trade, both regionally
and internationally. However, recent studies have predicted an unprecedented
high demand for animal protein, which can only be met through enhanced
participation of developing countries in trade in livestock products. Accordingly,
globalisation trends will exacerbate the exclusion of poor communities and
countries from markets unless a long-term strategy is implemented to
progressively build market opportunities for these countries, without placing the
livestock of industrialised countries at undue risk from FMD and other major
transboundary animal diseases.
The authors submit that there is sufficient knowledge of FMD to make an
international initiative for the progressive control of FMD a viable objective.
Consequently, a four-stage pathway is proposed for developing a global FMD
programme. The proposed strategy involves a build-up of the epidemiology and
global status of FMD, including establishing an international early warning
system, a risk-reduction phase to lower the incidence of FMD in the primary
endemic areas and a control phase leading to the creation of zones of assured
FMD-freedom.
The authors also propose that an international FMD programme be co-ordinated,
based on the experience of the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme, the
Hemispheric Plan for the eradication of FMD for the Americas, the South-East
Asia Foot and Mouth Disease control and eradication campaign and the
European Commission for the Control of FMD.
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Keywords
Globalisation, Trade, Foot-mouth disease