James Cook University will help spearhead efforts to combat dangerous biosecurity threats to Australia as part of a $5 million Asia-Pacific program.
JCU head of veterinary preventative medicine Professor Bruce Gummow will join experts from Australia and New Zealand to deliver frontline training for biosecurity staff in Laos, Cambodia, PNG and Timor Leste as part of a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade-funded program run by the Asia Pacific Consortium of Veterinary Epidemiology (APCOVE)—managed by the University of Sydney.
African swine fever, foot-and-mouth disease, Japanese encephalitis, and rabies are just some of the disease threats facing Australia.
“It makes a lot more sense to catch these diseases before they can get to us in Australia,” Prof Gummow said.
“We are effectively putting a security buffer around us by improving biosecurity in those Asia-Pacific countries.
“Australia is very good at having emergency and disaster protocols in place should a disease outbreak occur. Through this project, these countries will be drawing on the expertise and knowledge of veterinary epidemiologists from several universities that will train them how to respond better in the event of an outbreak in their own countries.”
Experts from the University of Sydney, University of Queensland, University of Melbourne, University of Adelaide, Charles Sturt University, Murdoch University, Massey University and JCU are involved in the program.
The program has several aims including providing ‘One Health’ training to eight Asia-Pacific countries. That involves leveraging the resources of each country’s veterinary, public health, and environmental sectors to prevent the spread of animal-based diseases.
“The concept of One Health is getting people to take a holistic approach to solving complex problems,” Prof Gummow said.
“So, when we get a problem that is too complicated for one specific sector to deal with, then we have to think about creating transdisciplinary teams to deal with those complex problems.”
Prof Gummow added that beefing up biosecurity measures in Australia’s neighbouring countries “is essential” to protecting agricultural production as well as public health in northern Queensland.
“Many diseases that affect people come from animals. That’s why the Australian Government is investing so much money in this,” he said
“They realise that if we can upgrade the animal health workforce in those countries, then they can find those diseases more quickly before they have a chance to make it here.
“It’s really a case of being pre-emptive with this strategy.”
