U.S. to help modernise Indian veterinary disease forecasting system

Leaders, Science & Technology
Veterinary diseases cause a huge impact on economy as the country suffered a loss ofRs. 23,000 crore owing to foot and mouth diseasealone in 2013–14.— File Photo M.A. Sriram
Veterinary diseases cause a huge impact on economy as the country suffered a loss ofRs. 23,000 crore owing to foot and mouth diseasealone in 2013–14.— File Photo M.A. Sriram

In a bid to prevent thousands of crores of losses being suffered due to veterinary diseases, the country is set to strengthen and modernise its veterinary disease surveillance and forecasting system with expertise from the United States of America, which has one of the best veterinary disease surveillance systems in the world.

Under this initiative, the U.S.-based Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will train Indian veterinarians as well as medical doctors, according to H. Rahman, Director of Bengaluru-based National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics, which is coordinating such efforts to strengthen and modernise the system.

Though a formal memorandum of understanding in this regard is expected to be signed in September, the preliminary rounds of training have already begun by the CDC. “The CDC has given preliminary training here to two batches of veterinarians and medicos from different States,” Dr. Rahman said. In all, the CDC will impart four rounds of trainings at different levels. This will cover a range of issues such as disease surveillance, collection of disease samples, validation, case studies, and epidemiology (the study of disease pattern and its health impact on population in certain geographical area), he said. Those who undergo the training would be used as trainers for imparting skills to others.

The training is being imparted to medical doctors also as some of the veterinary diseases impact the health of human beings too, he said.

The modernisation will help forecast the incidence of major diseases well in advance besides contributing to development of a strong infrastructure support for preventive measures, he said.

Veterinary diseases cause a huge impact on economy as the country suffered a loss of Rs. 23,000 crore owing to foot and mouth disease alone in 2013–14.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention to train veterinarians as well as medical doctors

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities> Bengaluru / by B. S. Sathish Kumar / Bengaluru – February 15th, 2015