BOTSWANA COUNTRY REPORT presented at the Avian Influenza

BOTSWANA COUNTRY REPORT presented at the Avian Influenza Workshop held in Pretoria (7 th-9 th March 2006). Jointly Presented by T. Moeti (Min. of Health) M. Letshwenyo (Min. of Agriculture) N. Mapitse (Min. of Agriculture)

PRESENTATION LAYOUT Introduction Poultry production in Botswana General Disease Control in Botswana HPAI Situation in Botswana HPAI Risks HPAI Preparedness Control of HPAI Conclusion

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION (Cont. . ) BOTSWANA: Area = 582, 000 km 2 Semi-arid; av. annual rainfall = 400 mm. Human population: 1. 7 m people (2001) Livestock population: • 2. 5 million cattle • 1. 5 million goats • 1. 0 million sheep • 31 million chicken • about 20, 000 pigs a large number of various wildlife species

Human Population Density Source: Atlas of Botswana©

INTRODUCTION (Cont. . ) Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contributors: minerals (diamonds) – 85% Tourism – 4% agriculture – 3% (of which beef is 80%) Others – 8% Livestock production is the backbone of rural livelihoods Poultry production is an up-coming industry (diversification from cattle farming)

POULTRY PRODUCTION Commercial poultry enterprises employs about 2381 people. ownership: women (69. 2%) men (23. 4%) groups/government institutions (7. 4%). value of the commercial sector is about P 600 million. poultry farming plays a significant role in poverty alleviation and economic empowerment of women, especially in the rural areas.

POULTRY PRODUCTION Commercial Traditional/ Family • Chicken & Ostrich • Subsistence • Large/Medium/Small • Free range scale • Cities/Towns/Villages/ • Fully enclosed/ settlements/ Arable and Housed pastoral areas • Urban and peri-urban • Poor biosecurity & • Good Biosecurity Husbandry • >31 million chickens • Approx 3 million birds • Value - BWP 600 - 750 m • Others – guinea fowls, pigeons, ducks, geese,

DISEASE CONTROL (GENERAL) Disease surveillance and monitoring • Disease reporting • Strategically deployed animal and human health centres • Strategically deployed staff

DISEASE CONTROL (GENERAL) LEGEND Source: Atlas of Botswana ©

DISEASE CONTROL (GENERAL)

DISEASE CONTROL (GENERAL) DISEASE REPORTING Directorate Principal Veterinary Officer or Chief Tech. Officer Senior or Principal technical Officers Technical Assistants Farmers National Region District Sub-District Extension Area Crush

DISEASE CONTROL (GENERAL) Legislation Diseases of Animals Act and Regulations Provide the legal bases Enforcement Empowers the Director of Veterinary Services Veterinary infrastructure facilitates • animal movement control • Permit System Operational disease control structures • Disease Alert team – responds to animal disease emergencies • Disease Control Committee – regularly reviews vet. dz control programs

DISEASE CONTROL (GENERAL) Public awareness/education • Seminars/workshops • Leaflets • Media Diagnosis National Laboratories (animal and human) Laboratory collaboration (Regional and International)

HPAI SITUATION IN BOTSWANA • • Botswana is free from HPAI Avian Influenza is notifiable (Diseases of Stock (Amendment) Regulations 2001) Surveillance currently on-going at different levels of intensity International/ Regional and National Information sharing and public awareness initiatives • National Multisectoral AI Task Force est. Oct 2005. • Political will and support is in place

HPAI RISK Import of infected birds and their fresh products from countries with the disease Migratory birds (e. g. waterfowl)

HPAI RISK IMPORTS Imports of birds and their fresh products from infected countries Legal Illegal

HPAI RISK MIGRATORY WATER BIRDS Reservoir hosts for the disease Can spread the disease on contact with local wild and domestic birds Botswana is in the pathway of the Europe to southern Africa route high-risk areas are the wetlands of Makgadi pans, Okovango delta, Chobe River, and the big dams wild bird to wild bird spread is difficult to stop - Challenge

HPAI RISK IMPORTANT BIRD AREAS O BOTSWANA Okavango Delta Chobe/Linyanti Lake Ngami Makgadi Pans Dams and artificial water bodies Source: Bird. Life Botswana 2005

HPAI RISK WETLANDS OF BOTSWANA Source: Atlas of Botswana ©

PREPAREDNESS • HPAI draft Animal Health Preparedness Plan developed • Increased surveillance • Regular visitation to identified high risk areas • Early Detection (Disease Alert Team) • • • Rapid Deployment of Personnel for Disease Confinement (Protective clothing still to be sourced ) Improved on-farm biosecurity

PREPAREDNESS • Increase awareness • Seminars/workshops • Leaflets • Electronic and print media

PREPAREDNESS

PREPAREDNESS

PREPAREDNESS • • • Multi-sectoral teams (National and technical task force) Formed in October 2005 in response to H 5 N 1 Asian epidemic Includes Ministries of: • • Agriculture, Health, Environment and Wildlife, State President (Police and Defence Force), Finance and development Planning and UN Agencies Meets at least once/month Deliberates on global trends and guide national Preparedness Strategy Participates in Regional & International AI meetings

PREPAREDNESS Mitigation against unintentional importation of risk material legal Daily monitoring of global trend of HPAI by DAHP Mitigation against illegal importation of risk material DAHP staff posted to border entry points search for illegal material no DAHP officers at the airports but Customs and Excise personnel Mitigation against trans-continental spread by migratory birds High risk areas identified and subjected to enhanced

PREPAREDNESS Animal Health - Diagnostic Capacity • • Capacity for serology and virus isolation through egg inoculation for H 5 and H 7 Regional and international collaboration for further diagnostics exist (Low capacity for big numbers of samples in outbreak situations) (No RT-PCR capacity for human resources and equipment)

PREPAREDNESS • District Health managers oriented on avian flu • IEC materials developed and distributed to the public; public education ongoing. • “Draft” Health workers management guidelines developed and distributed. • “Draft” Avian flu pandemic preparedness plan developed and distributed to Health workers and other stakeholders. • Small emergency stock of the drug ‘Tamiflu’ obtained for use in case of outbreak in humans. • Human Vaccine - No commercially available

PREPAREDNESS Diagnostic Capacity - Mo. H Currently there is no capacity in the country to diagnose H 5 N 1 in humans. Collaboration has been initiated with National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD)RSA for investigation of human cases. Guidelines for specimen packaging and transportation available from NICD-RSA.

CONTROL OPTIONS If the disease enters the country In wild birds • Early detection and containment to prevent spread to domestic birds In domestic birds – available options: • • stamping out Vaccination test and slaughter letting the disease burn out All measures supplemented with standard disease management procedures such as quarantine, movement control,

STAMPING OUT – Preferred Option humane destruction of all infected birds and those in contact, in a specified radius designated as infected zone/compartment. The infected zone or compartment is gazetted to become legally enforceable by law. Delineation of infected zone determined by management style of birds involved commercial poultry traditional poultry

Advantages of stamping out Rapid eradication of the disease More cost effective in the long term Removing the chances of virus establishing itself in the bird population and even mutating to more virulent strains Confidence of the poultry meat consumers quickly restored Export of poultry and poultry products quickly regained. This strategy is in accordance with current global strategy of HPAI control, which aims at eradication

Disadvantages of stamping out Socially unacceptable (i. e. the public may not fully understand why apparently healthy birds have to be killed) Requires compensation Labour intensive (destruction, disposal, etc. ) Loss of indigenous genetic material Disposal has an environmental impact

CONCLUSION Collaboration between Mo. H and Mo. A enables integrated response Full commitment to prevention and control the disease in both Ministries Surveillance of poultry population and wild fowl established as part of an early warning system Preparedness plans in both sectors to initiate and direct prevention and response activities Commitment to scale up surveillance and control activities if risk of pandemic increases. Resource implications of comprehensive response not yet fully defined Further capacity development required (funds, equipment, infrastructure)

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