Coming into 2019, the spread of African swine fever (ASF) in Europe and Asia is an example of the various sanitary concerns with which veterinary services and animal health experts have to deal, according to an announcement from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

When confronted with a disease that has such a serious socioeconomic impact on countries, especially on the livelihood of pig farmers, the ability to quickly assess the evolution of the situation is key to stemming its spread, OIE said, noting that efficient management and control of ASF requires that countries share transparent information about their animal health situation so it can be made available to the international community in a timely manner.

In view of data collection and reporting, OIE said it is currently upgrading the internet-based World Animal Health Information System (OIE-WAHIS) with advanced technologies.

The benefits brought by such a tool were highlighted at a ministers conference convened Jan. 19 in the framework of the Global Forum for Food & Agriculture (GFFA) in Berlin, Germany, on the theme "Agriculture Goes Digital — Smart Solutions for Future Farming."

OIE noted that the transparency of epidemiological information on the emergence, re-emergence and evolution of animal diseases is crucial. It also allows for building trust between partners and facilitates the safe trade of animals and animal products.

As stated in the GFFA ministers' communiqué, “Digitalization in agriculture will play an important role in achieving these goals.” The 74 ministers attending the conference called for the development of digital systems that improve data use and accessibility through interoperability, harmonization and improved geo-localization.

In the interest of livestock farming, the ministers strongly recognized OIE-WAHIS as “an important component for exchanging information and for supporting veterinary services in designing their animal disease control programs," OIE said.

The aforementioned features will be included in the renovated OIE-WAHIS interface, which will also allow data to be viewed, analyzed and extracted more rapidly and information on animal diseases to be displayed on dynamic maps.

According to OIE, the renovated OIE-WAHIS will contribute to implementation of global strategies for the control of animal diseases and provide information on the circulation of more than 120 animal diseases reported by around 200 countries. The data will be actively disseminated to the current 12,000 subscribers and will be accessible to everyone. A modern geographical information system and a powerful business intelligence tool will also be available to facilitate data visualization, extraction and analysis, OIE said.

At GFFA, attending ministers additionally called for establishing an independent, international Digital Council for Food & Agriculture under the auspices of the U.N. that will advise governments and other relevant actors, drive the exchange of ideas and experiences and help everyone harness the opportunities presented by digitalization.

EFSA harmonized data collection

Meanwhile, a new report published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) marks a step forward in European efforts to make the process for collecting data on animal diseases within the European Union more agile. The report proposes an approach that optimizes the way data are gathered by member states and submitted to EFSA for analysis and reporting.

This is the first report of the SIGMA project, which aims to automate data submissions on disease outbreaks, surveillance and domestic animal populations, EFSA said.

EFSA regularly collects data from member states on animal diseases such as ASF, lumpy skin disease and avian influenza, which are then analyzed for risk assessment purposes. However, these data are often difficult to compare and analyze because they are collected using different methods and reported in different languages, EFSA noted.

The proposed approach automatically translates data currently collected by member states into a common language and stores them logically — like books on the shelves of a library.

“The approach aims to deliver the first structured library of information on animal diseases. This will save a lot of time and resources for member states that submit data to EFSA and will allow EFSA to produce scientific assessments of higher quality in a shorter time,” said Gabriele Zancanaro, who manages the project.

Data providers from Italy and Spain are already engaged in the project.