Simulation exercise: Foot and mouth disease in Greece

30 November to 2 December 2021

Dr Chrysoula Dile, Delegate to the OIE and Head of Animal Health Directorate of Greece, informed the OIE that the Animal Health Directorate of the Directorate General of the Hellenic Ministry of Rural Development and Food will participate in the multi-country foot and mouth disease tabletop simulation exercise organized by the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD) in coordination with the relevant regional and local Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) offices.

This exercise, which will be conducted from 30 November to 2 December 2021, includes the Thrace countries (Turkey/Thrace, Bulgaria, Greece) and sphere of influence countries (Turkey/Anatolia, Iran and Iraq) as participants, as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia as observers.

The aim of this exercise is to assess response procedures in case of a Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak occurring simultaneously in the border areas of endemic and non-endemic countries/regions, and to evaluate the level of preparedness and cooperation during animal health emergencies. For this purpose, key parties responsible to manage the outbreak of transboundary animal diseases are involved in the exercise, such as official veterinarians from the central and local Veterinary Authorities, as well as the National Reference Laboratories of each country.

This FMD exercise will significantly contribute to good practices exchange, as well as to the improvement of communication and collaboration among involved countries.

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World Animal Health Information and Analysis Department
World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)
[email protected]