The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) - Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is conducting a supervisory visit from September 23 to October 5 for their joint project with the CLSU-Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases (CenTrAD) and the College of Veterinary Science and Medicine (CVSM) entitled “Surveillance and management strategies for African Swine Fever (ASF), Classical Swine Fever (CSF) and Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in Swine Farms in Central Luzon, Philippines” funded by USDA-Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory (FADDL) through Global Partnership on Animal and Zoonotic Disease Surveillance (GPAZDS) program and implemented by the LifeStock International.
The delegation is headed by Dr. Bonto Faburay, Head of the GPAZDS program, together with Dr. Steve Pauszek, Dr. Christian Young, Dr. Thomas Seeley, and Dr. Alana Harrison. The team will conduct a visual assessment of the project’s progress and conduct support activities including seminar workshop, laboratory demonstration, field visits and orientation tours.
With the theme “Strengthening Diagnostic Capabilities and Converging Stakeholders in the Management of Emerging and Transboundary Diseases” the seminar workshop will be conducted at the CenTrAD facility to be participated in by veterinarians, field personnel, academe, researchers, and farmers representing 9 veterinary institutions and 10 local government units.
According to Dr. Virginia M. Venturina, CenTrAD Director, this active partnership between CLSU and USDA-FADDL is a testament to their efforts in realizing their vision to connect diagnostic and research institutions in the country and across the world.
The project visit also includes a meeting with the university officials headed by the University President, Dr. Edgar A. Orden, a tour in KAMALIG S&T Agritourism Site and the different specialized R&D Centers including the Small Ruminant Center, Philippine Carabao Center at CLSU, and Freshwater Aquaculture Center where they get to taste goat’s and carabao’s milk, other dairy products and witness the research and production facilities of CLSU.
The program includes nine institutions all over the globe with CLSU as the lone Philippine university who qualified and received the USDA funding.
