FAO strengthens Iraq’s animal disease surveillance and reporting system capacity through Mobile Application

 
Baghdad-INA
 
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture conducted a training workshop on the Event Mobile Application (EMA-i) in Baghdad from 17 to 19 October 2022.
 
The Organization said in a statement ,received by the Iraqi news agency(INA) that," Good quality disease information and reporting is needed in order to understand the disease situation, support decision-making, prevent potential disease incursion and respond quickly. Thus, it is crucial to apply a system at national level to enhance veterinary services’ capacities in disease reporting from the field to decision-makers and information sharing among stakeholders. For this reason, FAO has developed EMA-i for data collection and to facilitate real-time disease reporting to support veterinary services’ capacities in disease surveillance implemented in the field.”
 
The statement added, “Using smartphones, animal disease information is collected with the EMA-i application from the field. These data, which are geo-referenced, are entered into the app and safely stored in the FAO Emergency Prevention System (EMPRES) Global Animal Disease Information System (EMPRES-i). Through the financial support of the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), the training targeted 32 participants from the veterinary departments of six governorates; Al-Anbar, Al-Muthanna, Basrah, Dohuk, Ninewa and Wasit in addition to Baghdad and Erbil, and representatives from the Ministry of Health as part of the One Health approach. The training aimed to improve animal disease data collection and real-time reporting of animal disease outbreaks from the field to the national level by using the EMA-i application”.
 
Dr.Salah El Hajj Hassan, FAO Representative in Iraq, underlined the importance of this joint collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources (KRG) to improve animal health and strengthen health and livelihoods in the region. He added: “This training of trainers on the Event Mobile Application (EMA-i) aims at enhancing early warning systems and will ultimately contribute to the reduction of the food and health security threats posed by emerging, transboundary and endemic pathogens.”
 
Veronica Quattrola, FAO Deputy Representative in Iraq stated that: “The use of the EMA-i app in other countries has demonstrated major improvements in animal disease reporting and communication between districts and central level. This training on the use of EMA-i technology in Iraq is timely and will strengthen the overall capacity of the livestock and veterinary services in animal diseases, reporting, early warning and surveillance.”
 
Using this technology will improve the quantity and quality of reports allowing for effective and immediate action during the occurrence of a disease outbreak – in terms of detection, reporting and response.