Press Release

FAO Strengthens National Capacities in Data Management and Analysis for Animal Disease Surveillance and Reporting

09 August 2023

Baghdad, 9 August 2023. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (MoAWR-KRI) delivered a hands-on training on “Data Management and Analysis” in Baghdad. This five-day training commenced on 6 August 2023 under “Improving Delivery of Animal Health Services and Disease Surveillance in Iraq” project funded by the United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).

The training, attended by the specialists from the veterinary services in Baghdad, Erbil, Duhok, Nineveh, Anbar, Wasit, Muthanna and Basra governorates, builds on the Event Mobile Application (EMA-i) workshop on “Disease notification and early warning reporting” and aims at developing skills in electronic data management, including verification and in-depth epidemiological analysis for a quality and rapid response to animal diseases outbreaks.

As surveillance data management and processing play an integral, increasing, and evolving role in supporting early warning of, and response to zoonotic disease events, it is important to improve data management and processing at the local level and integrate with the system at the national level. The training focused on enhancing veterinary services’ capacities in data collection, the application of different methods for data management and processing, techniques to troubleshoot (quality assurance / quality check) data coming in from the field, as well as processing, verification, exploration, and interpretation of data for decision-making.

The opening session was attended by the FAO Representative in Iraq and officials from relevant ministries. Dr. Salah El Hajj Hassan, FAO Representative in Iraq, underlined the importance of this joint collaboration with the MoA and MoAWR-KRI on data management and analysis for the early warning, which offers a better understanding and interpretation of animal health situation in the country for targeted disease control. He added: “This training aims at enhancing the skills of participants in data handling, verification, analysis, and interpretation and could contribute to reduce threats posed by emerging, transboundary and endemic pathogenic agents.”

The project “Improving Delivery of Animal Health Services and Disease Surveillance in Iraq” is a four-year initiative funded by DTRA that seeks to reduce the risk of international movement of animal diseases which introduction and spread could threaten livestock production, food security and nutrition,and the environment of Iraq. The above is expected to be achieved through strengthening the capacity of veterinary services to detect, diagnose and report highly pathogenic animal diseases and improve communication between central and local levels.

Khawla Ben Aicha

FAO

Communications Specialist

khawla.benaicha@fao.org

Salah Elhajjhassan

FAO

Representative

salah.elhajjhassan@fao.org

Mr Hajj Hassan, a national of Lebanon, holds a Ph.D. in Plant Production from the University of Agriculture, Damascus, Syria; a Master of Science degree in Plant Production and a Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Engineering, both from the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.
He started his career in 1984, as Senior Research Assistant in the Agricultural Research and Education Centre (AREC), American University of Beirut. From 1987 to 1991, he was Coordinator of the Student Training Programme, and also Agriculture and Horticultural Teacher for the Faculty of Agriculture, at the Lebanese University.
From 1991 to 1995, he worked as Agricultural Engineer at the Ministry of Agriculture, Bekaa Regional Office, Zahlah and was then assigned to the Agricultural Research Institute in the Tal Amara station, first as Head of the Crop Production Department and subsequently in charge of the Plant Protection Laboratory. From 2002 to 2006, he was Director of the Kfardane Research Station (Agricultural Research Institute). In 2008, he became Visiting Scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT) and Coordinator of a project with the International Centre for Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna.
In 2010, he served as Advisor to the Minister for Agriculture of Lebanon. In 2011, he became President of the Pesticide Scientific Committee, Head of the Phytoplasma Committee and Director of the Agriculture and Rural Development Programme (ARDP) (EU-funded project). From 2010 to 2013, he represented Lebanon in negotiations with EU, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq. During his career, Mr Hajj Hassan also carried out a number of other functions. He represented the Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI) in several research programmes with the International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) and the American University of Beirut. He was Coordinator of the Mashreq/Maghreb project with ICARDA, representing Lebanon in the Steering Committee, as well as being the Head of the Sugar-beet Delivery and of the Wheat Delivery Committees. For a number of years, Mr Hajj Hassan worked for the preparation of FAO TCP projects and served as the National Director of a TCP project. He joined FAO in January 2014 as FAO Representative in Yemen. Mr Hajj Hassan succeeds Mr El Zubi as FAO Representative in Iraq.

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Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

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