2294 part 1 final report.pdf - Agra CEAS Consulting

Prevention and control of animal diseases worldwide
Part I: Economic analysis: prevention versus outbreak costs
particular PARC and PACE 55 ) over the last 20 years, which have received sustained funding and technical
support 56 . More recently, in January 2006, the FAO launched a series of Regional Technical Cooperation
Projects in West/Central, East/Southern and North Africa, which are intended to establish HPAI disease
and epidemiological surveillance networks.
4.2.1.4. Vaccination
Vaccination is another control and/or prevention measure applied in selected cases, where this is available
and considered appropriate. At present, there is significant literature and policy debate on the suitability of
this control method and the conditions that need to be fulfilled for its effective application. For example,
vaccination for HPAI has been applied in Vietnam (apparently with successful results) but not other parts
of Asia 57 , and is currently being considered in Nigeria although there is a strong debate on its potential
effectiveness in the Nigerian context (A293). In the countries where a vaccination strategy was adopted,
this was mainly because the disease had spread widely throughout the smallholder poultry sector,
particularly in production systems 2, 3 and 4 (medium to low level of biosecurity), accompanied by very
high animal mortality (A40). The trade situation of a country and its concern to have its products accepted
in export markets is another key parameter affecting decisions to adopt vaccination (e.g. Vietnam has no
exports versus Thailand which is a key export country). The debate is compounded by the lack / limited
access to data on the efficacy of this policy option and of the current vaccines used 58 .
The 2006 UNSIC survey (A236) indicates that country attitudes and vaccination strategies differ
substantially between regions and the implementation of such programmes remains relatively infrequent.
The percentage of countries planning/implementing poultry vaccination is particularly low in the
Americas (16%), Europe/C. Asia (23%), and the Middle East/N. Africa (28%), and relatively modest in
the rest of the world (Africa: 52%; Asia/Pacific: 45%) Although in the last 6 months of 2006 countries
stepped up their preparation of vaccination plans, it is unclear whether this was triggered by a growing
acceptance of this policy option or simply reflects the response to the rapid spread of H5N1.
The OIE/FAO are currently in the process of developing guidelines on vaccination for HPAI, which cover
inter alia the epidemiological situation of the disease, the type of poultry production systems, logistical
55
It was in fact the PACE surveillance programme that first alerted Africa to HPAI infection (in Nigeria).
56 Despite the progress achieved by these programmes, new challenges have emerged in terms of prevention and
control, such as those more recently posed by HPAI. Also, few donors have allocated funds so far to finance projects
that would ensure the sustainable and long-term reinforcement of VS.
57 Currently (Nov 2005), China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Pakistan are the only countries using vaccination as part of
their HPAI control strategy.
58 Modelling studies suggest that where 90% of birds in a flock are adequately protected by vaccine, the probability
of flock infection is reduced by 50%. However, despite such vaccination protection at the individual level, ‘silent
spread’ of H5N1 can still occur within the flock, with risk for transmission between flocks, particularly at the end of
production cycle when biological security is compromised during bird transportation and cleaning of housing units.
This highlights the need for a highly effective vaccine, an equally effective vaccination delivery mechanism,
adequate bio-security measures, and potentially, the use of unvaccinated sentinel birds placed within vaccinated
flocks (A236).
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