Avian Influenza Workshop, Barbados - Regional preparedness
CaribVET members, poultry farmers and members of the Caribbean Poultry Association, international organizations like FAO, researchers from the Caribbean region (CIRAD, CENSA) and international experts from USDA-APHIS met in Barbados to address Avian influenza threat for the region.
Dr. Eva De Clercq participated in the workshop to further develop the Caribbean Veterinary Information System (C-VIS) with the Caribbean partners, following the outcomes and decisions of the CaribVET/Epigenesis Round Tables organized in April 2015, in Guadeloupe.
Specific objectives related to this project were to:
- Fine-tune the questionnaires for data collection for planning Avian Influenza surveillance and follow up of potential outbreaks in the region, looking for harmonization of terms ;
- Fine-tune the Confidentiality agreements for data sharing as well as CaribVET Declaration of Interest to use C-VIS
- Advocate the use of standardized data collection methods and centralized data storage.
All the objectives were reached and the Epigroup fine-tuned questionnaires/E-forms, the CaribVET confidentiality agreement and DOI. The members also discussed the programme of the regional training workshop on the use of C-VIS for Avian Influenza risk mapping in the countries.
The workshop participants recommended to use and adopt the C-VIS tools to enhance Avian Diseases surveillance in the Caribbean countries and ease harmonization of data collection to further enable data analysis at the regional level.
An updated version of the online questionnaire was distributed to the workshop participants on 10/07/2015. Feedback on the online version will be collected in August so that the forms and platform is ready for pilot testing in September. Further development of the GIS platform and its adoption remains an ongoing process. A regional workshop on the use of new surveillance tools is planned to help veterinary services to use those tools end of October (date and venue to be confirmed).
More information:
- CaribVET regional press release: Caribbean Scales-up preparedness plans for Avian Influenza
- Avian Influenza workshop: Joint Epigroup, Avian diseases and Laboratory working group meetings
