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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

William A. Graham, MPH, Federigo G. Santini, DVM, and Ambra Bravo, DVM. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Partners For Development, 1320 Fenwick Lane, Suite 406, Silver Spring, MD 20910, 301 608 0426, wag51364@aol.com

The pandemic risk of emerging zoonotic diseases combined with the international free trade of goods makes it increasingly crucial for individual states to develop laws and modern health systems. As part of regional and global health networks the public veterinary services must have the capacity to monitor, report and respond to outbreaks particularly with the emergence of avian influenza.

Yugoslavia's war and break-up left Bosnia with the challenges of recovering from war and developing new institutions and systems. In the support of sustainable minority return to ethnically cleansed rural areas the international community donated livestock to returnees. However, Bosnia did not have modern veterinary border controls and in some cases sick animals entered the country, infecting domestic stock, and consumers. As recently as June 2005, cases of brucellosis, TB, Q-fever and trichinosis were reported in the animal and public health systems. Bosnia imports approximately 70% of animals and by-products for internal consumption and lack of modern border veterinary controls exacerbate the risks of zoonotic infection.

Partners for Development, a US NGO, is building the institutional capacity of the Bosnian State Veterinary Office to strengthen inspection and establish a risk assessment approach for animal import control. This is being done by working with national stakeholders and project experts to develop Bosnia's legal framework which complies with the WTO/SPS standards. The result has been the integration of border veterinary controls into the custom service, a new inspection regulation and operating procedures, strengthening veterinary border inspection posts and training veterinary border inspectors.

Learning Objectives:

• a) Recognize the importance of state (national) level institutional capacity in developing and enforcing disease surveillance and control protocols.
• b) Describe the necessity of developing and implementing laws and procedures for veterinary border inspection in order to control and document the movement of live animals.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No