The World Organisation for Animal Health and the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation signed an agreement that provides a framework for cooperating on animal health issues principally at the animal, human and ecosystem interface.

On the 3rd of  December 2015 the Director General of the OIE, Dr. Bernard Vallat, and the President of the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC), Bernard Lozé, signed an agreement in order to enhance their collaboration and to strenghthen their common goals and objectives.

The numbers show that approximately 60% of the well-known diseases such as African Swine fewer (ASF), brucellosis or tubercolosis  that affect wildlife can be transmissible to humans. In light of the cooperation, the two organisations aim to detect and prevent the human infectious diseases coming mostly from wildlife. The goal is to raise awareness on wildlife conservation issues that impact the human and ecosystem interface.

The organisations will work together to engage hunters, fishermen, aquatic  and terrestrial professionals,  experts on epidemology and control of wildlife diseases, and will also carry out the implementation of new activities and information-sharing to enable effective actions.  In addition, the agreement seeks to improve communications among countries, National Veterinary Services, National Hunting and  Fishing Associations and education by organising training programs for hunters in order to facilitate their contribution to the early detection, prevention and surveillance of wildlife diseases. The initiative to establish a Training Center for Wildlife Health is also among their objectives.

The agreement also consider the spread of the African swine fever throughout Europe. As a part of this project the CIC, together with the OIE, will create communication tools on ASF and its detection to inform the hunting associations located in the Eastern EU member states.

To read more please visit the OIE website.