Regional simulation exercise on African swine fever outbreak investigation and beyond

For the past four years, FAO ECTAD has been providing capacity building programme to strengthen field capacity for fighting African swine fever (ASF). So far, over 1 500 animal health officials were trained through FAO ECTAD programme at the regional, national and subnational levels.  

In 2021, FAO ECTAD developed materials to conduct a simulation exercise (SimEx) on ASF outbreak investigation. The initiative was in collaboration with the SAFOSO (Because Animal Health Matters), with support from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) of the United States of America.

In August 2023, FAO ECTAD organized the regional SimEx on ASF outbreak investigation, funded by DTRA and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) of the Republic of Korea. The scenario-based learning helped participants identify gaps in their ASF outbreak investigation and response. Participants included government representatives from 11 countries and FAO personnel from 6 country offices.

SimEx was organized into three sessions of the outbreak scenario, each having specific objectives. The scenario of the exercise was set in the context of an ASF outbreak in the fictional country, ‘Hamland.’ The country of Hamland has four provinces and the principal industry is pork. The scenario began with the suspected outbreak of ASF in Cai province. Participants were assigned roles as lead coordinator, facilitators, and participants. The lead coordinator introduced the scene and assigned tasks to the participants. Facilitators interacted with participants groups in a role-play at various station, providing information and monitoring group activities. Focus of the exercises were on outbreak investigation and response as well on risk communication.

The exercise proved very useful that Malaysia adapted it for their rabies programme while the Solomon Islands adapted the materials for ASF prevention.