HPAI continued to cause considerable economic loss to poultry producers and remains a public health challenge in the country, according to FAO.

Over 40 million birds had been culled during the early periods of 2006-2007 alone. At present, outbreaks continue to occur in different production sectors and along the poultry value chain including in commercial farms, household flocks and live bird markets.

A sound animal health planning is of paramount importance to enhance the national disease control program. This, in turn, requires generation of reliable epidemiological information and analysis.

In light of this current challenge, the Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in close collaboration with its national counterparts, has organized a training course in applied statistics (biometrics) to strengthen the national capacity in epidemiological data analysis and management.

Veterinary officers from the national animal health services will be trained to enhance their skills in epidemiological data collection, entry, coding, filtration, analysis, interpretation and presentation of results as well as in experimental designs in order to support animal health policy decision making.

Further Reading

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