Prevention, detection and control of animal diseases, including zoonoses: Veterinary Services, the core of the global system Opinion & Comment / Information Releases from other Sources Posted by JimEdwards on Mar 26, 2006 - 01:37 PM Editorial from the Director General, Bernard Vallat Source: [1] Today, more than at any time in the past, outbreaks of certain animal diseases, especially zoonotic diseases, can cause considerable economic and social disruption and be a source of panic on an increasingly global scale. The recent sanitary crises involving bovine spongiform encephalopathy and foot and mouth disease are ample illustration of this new trend. The current avian influenza epizootic also shows the extent to which a serious sanitary event affecting the animal kingdom can have global consequences both for the rural economy and food security, while causing threats to public health. Globalisation is one of the factors conducive to the appearance of emerging and re-emerging diseases and greatly increases their impact. The national Veterinary Services (VS) are the very core body for the prevention, detection and control of animal diseases, including those transmissible to humans. The VS play a major role in every country as guarantors of animal health and associated public health issues. They include public and private components to implement their duties. The development and growth in many countries depends on the performance of their agriculture in terms of production, quality and safety of animal products, and this, in turn, directly relates to the quality of their VS. To be effective, VS should operate using transparency and scientific principles and be technically independent and immune from pressures from politicians and stakeholders. However, efforts to strengthen official services, require the active technical and financial participation involving both the public and the private sectors. The OIE considers VS to be a Global Public Good and their bringing into line with international standards (structure, organisation, resources, capacities, role of the private sector and the paraprofessionals) as a public investment priority. Read more [2] ... This article is from World Veterinary Association   http://worldvet.org/ The URL for this story is:   http://worldvet.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2669 Links in this article   [1] http://www.oie.int/eng/edito/en_lastedito.htm   [2] http://www.oie.int/eng/edito/en_lastedito.htm