South Eastern Europe Management Meeting Tirana, Albania 5-6 February 2020

1. FAO Regional Office for Europe and
Central Asia (REU) activities in the Balkan
region
Daniel Beltran-Alcrudo, Animal Health Officer
Mark Hovari, Consultant
FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, Hungary
EuFMD South Eastern Europe Management Meeting
Tirana, 5 – 6 February 2020

2. Current Technical Cooperation programs
(TCPs) on Animal Health in REU
• Emergency Regional TCP in the Balkans (2018-2020) on
African Swine Fever
• TCPf Kosovo* (2019-2020) on African Swine Fever
• TCP on Antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
(finished: Emergency Regional TCP for Eastern Europe
(2017-2019) on Lumpy Skin Disease)

3. ASF Emergency Technical
cooperation project in the Balkans
• Target countries: Albania, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia
and Serbia
• Plus a parallel project with the same objectives
in Kosovo*
• Objective: Increase detection prevention and
preparedness on ASF
• Timeline: Nov 2018 - Nov 2020 (24 months)

4. Assessment missions
Missions Dates
Serbia 8 – 10 May 2019
Bosnia and Herzegovina 19 – 20 June 2019
Montenegro 10 – 11 September 2019
Kosovo* 18 September 2019
N. Macedonia 14 -15 October 2019
Albania TBD 2020
• Assessment of detection, prevention and preparedness
of the competent authorities, risk assessment for entry
and spread
• Giving recommendations for CA

5. Stakeholder workshops: Biosecurity
Missions Dates
Serbia 7 May 2019
Bosnia and Herzegovina 21 June 2019
Montenegro 12 September 2019
Kosovo 19 September 2019
N. Macedonia 16 October 2019
Albania TBD 2020
• Focus on biosecurity and how to prevent entry
• Awareness raising for pig farmers and private
veterinarians on ASF

6. • One day intensive training
• Core number of trainers are trained
• Training was held by experts from FLI
• Materials are handed out to participants and translated
to Serbian / Albanian
Train-of-trainer programs
Missions Dates Participants
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
18 June 2019 Bosnia and Herzegovina (5),
Serbia (3) and Montenegro (3)
Kosovo* 17 September
2019
Albania (3), Kosovo* (5) and
North Macedonia (4)

7. Workshops on Wild boar and Hunting
Biosecurity
Missions Dates
Serbia 24 May 2019
Montenegro 19 - 20 September 2019
Kosovo 26 - 27 September 2019
N. Macedonia 17 - 18 October 2019
Bosnia and Herzegovina TBD
• Strategic discussions with competent authority on
detection and prevention of ASF in wild boar
• Sharing experience managing ASF in wild boar
• Awareness raising for hunters and capacity building on
hunting biosecurity

8. Regional African Swine Fever (ASF) Wild
Boar Management Workshop
• Focus on the Balkans
• Belgrade, Serbia, 21-23 May 2019
• Participants:
– vet specialists (from state veterinary services) from the Balkans, plus countries with ASF
experience (Georgia, Russian Federation and Ukraine)
– agencies in charge of wild boar management, hunting
– hunting associations
– experts in wild boar biology or related fields
– international agencies (OIE and EFSA)
• Objective: To improve participants knowledge and discuss in an open forum
the most challenging issues faced when it comes to ASF prevention and
control in wild boar and the best strategies to tackle them in the specific
context of the Balkans.
http://www.fao.org/europe/events/detail-events/en/c/1194316/

9. Awareness materials
• http://www.fao.org/index.php?id=94206
• Fully editable format (PowerPoint) that allows to quickly
adapt, translate, add logos, change pictures, etc. when
faced with an animal health emergency.
• The leaflets are now available in English, plus some
other languages online.
• Additional languages and formats (e.g. posters and
videos) will be uploaded as they become available.

10. • Good practices for biosecurity in the pig sector (EN, FR, SP, RU)
http://www.fao.org/docrep/012/i1435e/i1435e00.pdf
• Preparation of ASF contingency plans (EN, FR, SP, RU, GEO, ARM)
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/012/i1196e/i1196e00.pdf
• Recognizing ASF - A Field manual (EN, RU, CH, SR, LT) – Albanian and Macedonian
http://www.fao.org/documents/card/en/c/bd35c569-752e-4b57-892e-e3e2e0ee0c9c/
• African swine fever in wild boar ecology and biosecurity (EN)
• https://www.oie.int/fileadmin/Home/eng/Animal_Health_in_the_World/docs/pdf/ASF/EN_M
anual_ASFinwildboar_2019_Web.pdf
Manuals

11. ASF Resource website
http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/programmes/en/empres/ASF/index.html

12. Simulation Exersises
Missions Dates
N. Macedonia 27 – 28 November 2019
Kosovo* 26 - 27 February 2020
Montenegro 18 – 19 March 2020
Others TBD
• Two day simulation exercise: first day is field work (drills)
and second day is desktop
• Exercises are based on the assessment missions,
country needs and available CPs and S.O.Ps
• Both domestic and wild boar aspects are covered

13. ASF On-line Training Course
• ASF on-line training course pilot was run
for 4 weeks November 2019 with 240
participants from 55 countries
• 7 modules covering all aspects of ASF
• Materials were created by FAO REU staff
and experts from FLI
• Collaboration with EuFMD on creating the
on-line content and providing the platform
• Serbian language course:
31 March – 30 April 2020
• English langue course for Europe:
May 2020

14. LSD On-line Training Course
• Course content is under development
• Materials are being created by FAO REU staff and experts
from FLI
• Collaboration with EuFMD on creating the on-line content
and providing the platform
• English language course pilot for Europe will start
(tentative date): June 2020
• Russian language course for Central Asia, foreseen for
fourth quarter of 2020
Manual on Lumpy Skin Disease based on FAO GEMP
and materials written under LSD project.

15. Surveys
• On-going survey on pig sector in North Macedonia.
500 pig farms of various types are surveyed for pig
keeping practices, prevention and awareness on ASF.
Res
• Future surveys: Pig markets and Hunting grounds in North
Macedonia.
• Survey on AMR

16. LSD & ASF: FAO activities in the region
Mailing lists
- ASF
- LSD
If you want to be added, email me
at: daniel.beltranalcrudo@fao.org

17. LSD & ASF: FAO activities in the region
17
Thanks for your attention
* References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of Security Council resolution
1244 (1999)