Academic training for veterinarians in Kampong Cham, Cambodia

IQLS, in collaboration with Merieux Foundation and the General Directorate of Animal Health and Production (GDAHP), organized an academic training course on animal emerging diseases in the region.

The National Animal Health and Production Research Institute (NAHPRI) submitted a list of diseases circulating in neighboring countries or recently emerging in Cambodia to update the skills on clinical and laboratory diagnostic, epidemiology and control of the following disuses:

• Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) identified in June 2021 in the Cambodia and which has been reported affecting nearly 40,000 cows as at the end of August. This disease causes huge loss of value of the animals as cattle remain an important means of savings in rural area.
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• African Horse Fever (AHF) has already killed over 600 horses from 2020, in provinces near the Thailand-Cambodia border. The mortality rate reached 95% in the native population and will have an important impact on the transportation system in remote rural areas.
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• Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) also known as goat plague or ovine rinderpest, affects sheep and goats and is circulating in Thailand. Cambodia has committed to the PPR Global Control and Eradication Strategy of OIE.
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• Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) has spread in several countries in the region from 2006 and is caused by a Coronavirus. Recent acute outbreaks in China, despite a mass vaccination, due to emergence of new variants is a cause of concern in actual context.
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The presentations have been prepared by IQLS on the basis of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and have been reviewed by the Merieux Foundation and GDAHP to tailor the slides to the country context and response.

The training course brought together lab technicians from NAHPRI and one epidemiologist veterinarian from each province. All these veterinarians have been trained under CAVET (Cambodian Applied Veterinary Epidemiology Training), a program, funded by the US CDC & DTRA, and run by GDAHP and DTRA. These provincial veterinarians are the in front-line to detect and control diseases in the field.
The two-day training course was opened by Mrs. Duk Radaly, Deputy-Director of the Provincial Department of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries in Kampong Cham, who stressed the critical need of early detection and control of emerging diseases while LSD is severely affecting the province. Dr. Mardy Sek, representative of the Merieux Foundation in Cambodia provided an overview of the SEALAB project and emphasized the One Health approach. Finally, Dr. Sorn San, Deputy Director of GDAHP, endorsed the importance of reporting emergence of diseases to OIE and the essential role of provincial veterinarians trained under CAVET program.

The presentations were translated in Khmer by veterinarians familiar with animal diseases, Dr. Tum Sothyra, Director of NAHPRI, Dr. Holl Davun, Deputy Director of GDAHP and former director of NAHPRI (formerly NaVRI), Dr. Um Bunna Head of CAVET program USCDC/DTRA and Dr. Hak Makara, Technical Adviser at FAO and handouts were distributed to the participants.

Dr. Holl Davun and Dr. Um Bunna made interactive presentations, eliciting reactions, and provoking debate with the participants. Both trainers have conducted CAVET training from 2012, and therefore have a personal contact with each participant and for this reason this could help push them to share their experience from the field, especially for LSD recently emerging in Cambodia. Dr. Mardy took opportunity of presenting PED (caused by a coronavirus) to refresh the participants’ knowledge on different types of vaccines and immune response.

Finally, the participants replied to a quiz prepared by IQLS to evaluate the quality of the training and ownership of knew knowledge by participants and were rated by Dr. Holl Davun:

The event concluded by the distribution of a training certificate giving official recognition to the full completion of the training course. The next step will be the organization at the end of January 2022 of a practical lab training by IQLS on testing of these emerging diseases.

Additionally, Merieux Foundation and GDAHP will discuss with IQLS how to support CAVET veterinarians to design information tools, leaflets and posters for farmers, Village Animal Health Workers and district veterinarians, to support the early detection and control of these four diseases as the tools provided by OIE and FAO are not adapted to the Cambodian situation. This close collaboration with USCDC/DTRA, thanks to the involvement of Dr. Um Bunna, shows that the SEALAB project aims at developing synergies with other programs for consolidating outcomes of the project.