Indonesia, International Partners Work Closely to Fight Against Foot and Mouth Disease

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – The Indonesian government has been working closely with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and some international partners, including Australia to curb the spread of foot and mouth disease (FMD).

FMD has affected cattle in 22 out of 37 provinces in Indonesia, according to FAO.

“FAO has been working closely with the Indonesian government to control the spread of FMD since the beginning of the outbreak that threatens the food supply chain and the livelihood of the farmers,” said the FAO Representative in Indonesia and Timor Leste Rajendra Aryal in a statement on Tuesday, Aug. 2.

He went on to say that the FAO has been facilitating further international cooperation by providing 10,000 doses of FMD vaccines with the support from the Australian government through the FAO-Australia-ASEAN joint project on Strengthening Mechanism in Animal Health (SMART-ASEAN).

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Those vaccines were among the first batches of doses that marked the start of the national vaccination campaign in June this year.

The FAO has also facilitated several consultation meetings with international experts from various countries to exchange knowledge and best practices to control FMD.

Recently, the FAO deployed an emergency mission of the multinational expert team to several affected provinces to advise the government on short- and long-term actions.

Besides, the FAO has been supplying additional laboratory equipment to enhance the FMD-detection capacity of the disease investigation centers.

The FAO and the Indonesian government are looking forward to launching a virtual learning program for approximately 350 animal health field workers across Indonesia to rapidly control FMD using globally recognized learning materials.