A Method for Incorporating the Evaluation of Veterinary Services and Surveillance Programmes in Animal Health Risk Assessments. B. Toma, Ecole vétérinaire d'Alfort, 7 avenue du Général de Gaulle, 94704 Maisons-Alfort cedex - France, telephone 33 (0) 1.43.68.73.34, fax 33 (0) 1.43.96.71.31, e-mail toma@vet-alfort.fr; B. Dufour, Centre national d'études vétérinaires et alimentaires; P. Bonjour, Office international des épizooties; M. Sanaa, Ecole vétérinaire d'Alfort; and J. L. Angot, Secrétariat général du Comité interministériel/C.I.A.A.
With the adoption of the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) and the setting up of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the trade of animals and animal products should develop. These exchanges must respect the standards fixed by the Office international des épizooties (O.I.E.) and by the Codex Alimentarius.
However, some countries will not find these rules sufficient and will prefer the use of risk analysis. This should lead to a greater and more frequent use of risk analysis for importation.
From 1995, a study has been done on the fiability of data used for risk analysis of importation of animals and animal products. The International Animal Health Code of O.I.E. recommends the evaluation of the Veterinary Services and of the system of epidemiological surveillance in the exporting country, but only in a qualitative way.
We suggest a quantitative method based on two questionnaires (one for the Veterinary Services and one for the system of epidemiological surveillance) to be filled in by the exporting country and on two guides for the exploitation of the answers.
For each evaluation a mark between 0 and 100 is obtained. The combination of the two marks lead to a coefficient which is used to increase the announced prevalence of the disease.
In such a way, the risk estimation is nearest to the reality.
The method, the questionnaires and the guides will be presented.
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