The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation has announced a new global strategy to combat a devastating livestock disease, which has been endorsed by representatives of over 100 countries and international organisations. The FAO’s new initiative to combat Foot and Mouth Disease was launched at a conference in Bangkok on Friday.

According to the FAO and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), Foot and Mouth Disease costs farmers around the globe and estimated $5 billion (£3.2 billion) each year. Developing countries are often hardest hit by the disease, though the 2001 outbreak in the United Kingdom led to the deaths of over 10 million sheep and cattle and cost the country an estimated £19 billion.   

The new global strategy developed by FAO and OIE advises countries on their risk management policy for controlling FMD outbreaks, allowing them to take early steps to prevent the disease from spreading to other farms, communities and across borders.

The OIE will officially recognise various national control programmes and FMD freedom; today 66 out of 178 OIE member countries are free from FMD. The FAO has urged governments, companies and third sector organisations to back the project. A number of private and national bodies pledged their support last week.

FAO's assistant director-general Hiroyuki Konuma told delegates at the conference in Bangkok, only the second to focus on Foot and Mouth Disease, "For the Global Strategy to succeed it needs more than the partnership of FAO and OIE; it needs the producers and marketing sectors to participate, as well as the veterinary services, and the pharmaceutical and vaccine companies. And it will need sustained support from financial institutions and the generosity of funders,"

The FAO has warned that, as experts have projected vast increases in demand for meat and dairy products over the next thirty years, “With cross-border trade also increasing, the transboundary nature of FMD is a regional threat that requires regional approaches and responses.”

OIE Director-General Bernard Vallat elaborated for conference-goers, "Foot-and-mouth disease is not a priority in many countries, but when it strikes, the damage is enormous, ranging from losses in production to the culling of animals and trade bans. Good governance of national veterinary services using the OIE PVS Pathway is a critical element of mitigating foot-and-mouth disease with a positive impact on food security and poverty. Besides global control is in the interest of FMD-free countries because it avoids reintroduction of the disease on their territory."

According to the FAO, the strategy will focus on bringing all national veterinary services responsible for animal disease control up to OIE standards on quality, to better combat Foot and Mouth Disease, as well as other animal diseases.

Other developments taken under the initiative will include the creation of regional vaccine banks (such as OIE’s regional vaccine bank for Southeast Asia, FAO's Animal Production and Health Commission for Asia) and centres for quality control for developing countries. The OIE also said it will endeavour to improve the efficiency of surveillance systems, capacity of laboratories, quality control of vaccines and movement control of animals throughout the world under the auspices of the Strategy.

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