The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of United Nations (UN), through the Emergency Centre for Trans-boundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) programme, has trained 30 veterinarians to curb animal diseases in Nigeria.
Dr Ayodele Majekodunmi, the National Project Coordinator, FAO ECTAD, said on Wednesday in Abuja that the training’s main goal was to give more opportunities to field veterinarians who are on the frontline.
“They now have the opportunity to prevent and report animal diseases in Nigeria.”
She said the training was expected to improve surveillance, as well as reports on animal and zoonotic diseases across the country to avoid the negative social and economic aspects of these diseases.
“There are 30 veterinarians trained from across 26 states of the country and they are all public veterinarians who work for the state governments.
“We envisaged that at the end of their training, the state veterinary services across the country would have an improved capacity to do disease surveillance within their territories,’’ Majekodunmi added.
She disclosed that FAO ECTAD organised the training in collaboration with various partners, such as the Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
“We have also been supported by the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) who provided the majority of the funding for this programme.
“Furthermore, we have been supported by the regulatory bodies, such as the Veterinary Council of Nigeria and the National Veterinary Medical Association,’’ Majekodunmi said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the training was organised as part of FAO’s technical support to Nigeria to curb emerging animal diseases.
The training empowered the veterinarians with the capacity and skills for detecting and controlling emerging and trans-boundary animal diseases in the country.(NAN)
