International VS Strengthening & Epidemiology Tool Assessment

Portfolio: Risk Management

Project Title: International Veterinary Services (VS) Strengthening & Epidemiology Mapping Tool (EMT) Assessment

Status: In Progress

Overview:  The needs and requirements of veterinary services differ from country to country, so the assessment of epidemiological capacities of national veterinary services is crucial to understand the needs and gaps to inform workforce development, including the institutional capacity. The Veterinary Epidemiology Mapping Tool (EMT) is a tool developed and implemented by FAO-UN since 2013 for veterinary epidemiology capacity assessment (ECA) in national veterinary services. Its purpose is to guide the process of providing a detailed and objective assessment of government veterinary epidemiology capacity at national, subnational, and local levels. Under the United States of America`s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)-funded project, GCP/GLO/892/USA EMT shall be conducted in four countries: Jordan, Malaysia, Cameroon, and Senegal.

The Institue will be implementing the epidemiology capacity assessment using FAO EMT as a joint activity together with the government’s national veterinary services. For this assessment, IIAD will organize meetings with the country focal points or teams and use email, videoconferences, and visiting actual sites in each country to collect evidence for the EMT assessments. This project will be implemented for national veterinary services in Jordan, Malaysia, Cameroon, and Senegal to conduct each country’s assessment.

Project Duration: Year 2023

IIAD Project Team: Heather Simmons, Jimmy Tickel, Sarah Manning

External Consultants: David Castellan, Cheikh Fall

External Partners: Food and Agriculture Organization

Outcomes, Solutions, & Impact:

The EMT assessment produces a comprehensive report detailing the structure of the national veterinary services and stakeholders. The report will outline the strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities in the workforce and institutions in terms of disease outbreak investigation and preparedness, One Health coordination, surveillance, workforce distribution, laboratories and along with suggestions for improvement in the workforce in the short, medium, and long term.