THE Director of Veterinary Services, Dr. Enoch B.M. Koney, has stated that even though the country is currently not under any threat of the avian influenza (Bird Flu) disease, there was the need for all stakeholders to step up their monitoring activities to ensure that they respond quickly to any possible outbreak of the disease.
He said since the containment of the disease in some parts of Aflao, Tema and Sunyani last year, there had not been any reported case of the disease in any part of the country.
‘‘We are currently taking samples of birds in all parts of the country as a proactive measure for early detection. Once you have an incident of the outbreak, you are obliged to report on its status in your country to the international community every six months,’’ Mr Koney explained.
The director said this in an interview in Tamale last Monday after the commencement of a two-week training of trainers workshop on Ghana biosecurity, surveillance and outbreak response.
It was on the theme ‘‘Stamping out pandemic and avian influenza (STOP AI)’’ and organised by the Veterinary Services Directorate with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Participants included officers from the Ministry of Agriculture and the security agencies from the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions.
It formed part of a series of workshops for the northern, middle and southern sectors of the country.
Among the topics to be discussed were communication skills and disease control.
Dr Koney also announced that his outfit had taken biosecurity measures as a main policy framework to ensure the proper practice of hygiene on all farms in order to check the outbreak of diseases.
The northern regional director of agriculture, Mr Sylvester Adongo, said even though the area had not had any reported incidence of the bird flu, the directorate was vigilant, “since an outbreak of the disease could seriously affect food security and livelihood of the people”.
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