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With the aim of strengthening the actions that are being carried out by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER) to keep the country free from African swine fever (ASF), the National Service of Agri-Food Health, Safety and Quality (SENASICA) is organising a mega-drill with the participation of more than 500 people.
The ASF drill in Mexico has the aim of assessing the quick response systems before health emergencies, and that all the people involved know precisely how to act, as well as the actions that must be carried out to quickly control and eradicate the disease from the Mexican territory.
The aim is to encourage the coordination and exchange of information between the actors related to the health emergency, as well as the assessment of the human resources and the materials to improve the responsiveness when faced with emergency situations due to the emergence of ASF outbreaks in Mexico.
We are talking about 8 field drills that will be carried out at the same time, between September 24th and 26th, in 8 pig producing regions, with the participation of more than 500 people between academics, researchers, technicians and health inspection officers from the SENASICA, staff from the SADER, the Ministries of Agricultural and Livestock Development of the participating states, the state committees for Livestock Promotion and Protection, and national security agencies.
The drill, that will be carried out simultaneously in Chiapas, Guerrero, Nuevo León, Puebla, Querétaro, San Luis Potosí, Sonora and Yucatán, will also summon the production sector, journalists and technicians from the USA, and the International Organism for Agricultural and Livestock Regional Health (OIRSA), who will participate as observers.
During the drill, the crisis committee, located at the SENASICA's Health Intelligence Unit, that is under the command of the Director in Chief of the SADER's organism and the Director General of Animal Health and the Director of the Mexico-USA Commission for the Prevention of Foot-and-Mouth Disease and Other Exotic Animal Diseases (CPA) will be activated.
The Animal Health Emergency National Mechanism (DINEDA) will implemented, the established protocols shall be checked and improved at a national level to respond against the ASF outbreaks, and actions against epidemics that must be implemented for the control and eradication of the disease, adapted to the different scenarios, shall be carried out.
The technicians will have to delimit the affected area, run systems for the search and destruction of pig carcasses, try the surveillance systems and carry out actions to strengthen biosecurity on the farms, as well as restricting the movements of pig/pork products and by-products.
During the Mega-Drill, awareness will be raised among the production sector and the veterinarians regarding the importance of the immediate notification as a key aspect so the emergency operation starts opportunely and the eradication of the disease is reached quickly.
Likewise, the internal communication systems shall be exercised with the state authorities, the production sector and the society, as well as the promotion of the relationship and the coordination between all the sectors implied.
ASF entails an important risk for Mexican pig production, and because of this, the drills are necessary to guarantee a quick, coordinated and effective response before the possibility that any outbreak of this exotic diseases emerges in Mexico.
Sunday, July 21st, 2019/ SADER/ Mexico.
https://www.gob.mx/
