Key stakeholders meet to control bird flu

A three-day training workshop to discuss ways to control Avian Influenza (bird flu) and other emerging diseases is underway in Kumasi.

It is being organized by the Veterinary Services and sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) – Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APIS).

Officials of the Ghana Health Service, National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO), Environmental Health Department of the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies, Ghana Private Veterinarians, Police and Ghana National Fire Service (GNFS) are attending.

Drawn from three regions – Ashanti, Eastern and Brong-Ahafo, they would be taken through the epidemiology, diagnosis, surveillance and prevention of the influenza, depopulation of birds using the “foam” technology and disposal of carcasses by composting.

Dr. Hanna Louisa Bisiw, Deputy Minister for Food and Agriculture (MOFA), said the workshop could not have been held at a better time as it comes at a time the nation is still recovering from the outbreak of avian influenza.

She applauded the technical cooperation and multi-sectoral approach to effectively contain and tackle any outbreak of the influenza, which had caused considerable damage to the poultry industry, especially in the Greater Accra Region.

Source: GNA