COSALFA defines the next stages in the fight against foot and mouth disease

The 38th Meeting of the South American Commission for the Fight against Foot and Mouth Disease (COSALFA) took place last week in Recife (Brazil), with the objective of defining the next steps to take in the fight against foot and mouth disease in the 2011-2020 Foot and Mouth Disease Eradication Plan of Action (PHEFA).

Several resolutions were accepted, among them: requesting that regional and international cooperative organizations, and countries, implement their Foot and Mouth Disease plans, within the frame of the 2011-2020 PHEFA Plan of Action, that PANAFTOSA coordinate and carry out complimentary studies (field and laboratory) of isolated strains of Foot and Mouth Disease in Ecuador, it was also requested that in a period of 60 days PANAFTOSA establish a work group to start and implement the 2011-2020 PHEFA Plan of Action. It was also requested that the Brazilian government, as well as the Director of the Pan-American Health Organization, maintain the support they have given over the last 60 years, countries, farmers organizations and sectors within the livestock production chain were urged to adhere to the mechanisms, and subscribe to the respective agreements and to carry out contributions to the extent possible. PANTOFSA was again asked to continue to give priority to the technical cooperation for the Bolivian Foot and Mouth Disease Eradication Program.