5th Regional Phil-AHIS Conference held

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Livestock technicians all over the region gathered for the Annual Regional Philippine Animal Health Information System (Phil-AHIS) Conference recently held in the city.

Organized by the Department of Agriculture-Regional Field Office 10 (DA-RFO 10) together with the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI), the conference aims to update on how technicians utilized the system data collection with regards to animal health services such as vaccination, spaying, neutering, among others. It also aims to update the stakeholders on the prevailing animal diseases observed in the country particularly in the region as per reports submitted.

According to Marites C. Gealone, Phil-AHIS National Coordinator of the BAI, Phil-AHIS is a collection of data processed and presented in tables, graphs and maps to be used by veterinarians, epidemiologists, researchers in conducting data analyses to serve as basis for policy development.

In the same report by Gealone said that, currently, BAI has successfully deployed Phil-AHIS in all provinces, nationwide, catering to the great need to improve the animal health which greatly affects the livestock sector in the country.

In the Philippines, the prevailing animal disease reported is on respiratory infection with 35, 704 cases and caused 1,555 deaths. Majority of the respiratory infection affected are the avian which accounted to 66.5 percent. This, according to her, is primarily caused by the extreme weather conditions brought about by climate change for which animals in general could not easily adapt, thus, affecting the livestock industry in the country.

She encourages the participants to also make use of the Phil-AHIS website to enhance efficiency on animal health information reported from field to national office, so that they can access the data anytime. The website provides publicly available data such as outbreak maps monitoring reports, vaccination reports, and Phil-AHIS news articles to other visitors who are non-members.

Due to the campaign towards a Rabies-free nation by 2020, Gealone also encouraged the group to also key-in their reports on mass vaccination program in the same website through the Online Rabies Vaccination Monitoring Summary in order for BAI to closely monitor the utilization of rabies vaccines in the different regions.

Also in a report given by Dr. Ma. Teresa B. Roa, Chief of the Integrated Laboratories Division (ILD) the Philippines has maintained its Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) free status since 2011, as well as from the Avian Influenza (AI).

In the region, rabies is reported to be the prevailing disease which greatly threatens the populace as well as possible infection on livestock. According to the reports from BAI, Cagayan de Oro ranked first on the highest number of animal rabies cases in the Philippines for 2014. She explained that this positivity rate is based on the number of head samples from a suspected rabid animal submitted to the RADDL.

This also pushed the health Agencies in the region (DOH, DA thru RADDL and Provincial/City Veterinary Office) to intensify its vaccination. Thus, according to Dr. Perla Asis, City Veterinarian of Cagayan de Oro, 89% of almost 35, 000 dog population in the city has already been vaccinated through the provision of vaccines from the BAI, DA-10 and the Local Government Units. She further encouraged other municipalities to do the same to help eradicate rabies in the region.

Also raised during the conference is the issue on the timely and regular submission of Phil-AHIS reports from the technicians to the PVO which affects the real-time generation of data in the region, thus, Dr. Alanita Jumalon, Veterinarian III, OIC of RADDL encouraged the participants to be mindful of the reports to be submitted as it is essential in coming up with policies that would best improve animal health in the region.

Presentation of the posters made by each province and cities were also conducted. The said presentation aims to help the technicians translate the data they gathered into a simple presentation through a poster in lay-man’s term. Malaybalay City won 1^st prize, Cagayan de Oro won 2^nd prize and the the province of Misamis Occidental was hailed as the 3^rd placer. The winners will compete for the National Level to be held in Manila in September, this year for the National Phil-AHIS Conference.#(Charisse P. Salarda, DA-RAFIS 10)