Global perspective for foot and mouth disease control

The world distribution of foot and mouth disease (FMD) is almost a mirror image of the global economic structure. In general, industrialised countries are free while the disease is endemic in developing countries. In recent years, several incursions of FMD have been recorded in countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), all of which have been financially and socially costly to eliminate. At the same time, this single disease bars many developing countries from participation in formal trade, both regionally and internationally. However, recent studies have predicted an unprecedented high demand for animal protein, which can only be met through enhanced participation of developing countries in trade in livestock products. Accordingly, globalisation trends will exacerbate the exclusion of poor communities and countries from markets unless a long-term strategy is implemented to progressively build market opportunities for these countries, without placing the livestock of industrialised countries at undue risk from FMD and other major transboundary animal diseases. The authors submit that there is sufficient knowledge of FMD to make an international initiative for the progressive control of FMD a viable objective. Consequently, a four-stage pathway is proposed for developing a global FMD programme. The proposed strategy involves a build-up of the epidemiology and global status of FMD, including establishing an international early warning system, a risk-reduction phase to lower the incidence of FMD in the primary endemic areas and a control phase leading to the creation of zones of assured FMD-freedom. The authors also propose that an international FMD programme be co-ordinated, based on the experience of the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme, the Hemispheric Plan for the eradication of FMD for the Americas, the South-East Asia Foot and Mouth Disease control and eradication campaign and the European Commission for the Control of FMD.