Global rinderpest eradication and the South Asia Rinderpest Eradication Campaign

The idea of the South Asia Rinderpest Eradication Campaign (SAREC) evolved alongside similar campaigns in Africa (PARC) and West Asia (WAREC). In 1983, FAO organized an Expert Consultation on Requirements for the Rinderpest Eradication Campaign in South Asia, which was held in India. Following the consultation, FAO commissioned a team to visit the five countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka to study ongoing activities and identify further requirements for eradication of this serious cattle disease from the region. Based on findings from this visit, a regional project proposal was submitted to UNDP and the EU for funding, but the project did not come to fruition. Meanwhile, the FAO Animal Production and Health Commission for Asia and the Pacific (APHCA) – formed in 1975 and based at the FAO Regional Office in Bangkok – held its annual session, which was attended by senior livestock officials of member countries, including four of the five SAREC countries (Bhutan joined APHCA later, in 2000). During the late 1980s and mid-1990s, a key agenda item at APHCA sessions was how to establish a regionally coordinated campaign for rinderpest eradication in South Asia. APHCA developed and promoted an action-oriented programme for SAREC, including the dissemination of information about the animal movement control and quarantine procedures applicable to the prevailing regional situation, and the organization of a series of training programmes on diagnosis and surveillance for rinderpest eradication in South Asia. The EU provided bilateral assistance to Bhutan, India and Nepal, and with APHCA providing its member countries with the momentum for regionally coordinated disease control activities, the successful eradication of rinderpest in South Asia was assured.