By Morkporkpor Anku, GNA
Accra, Dec. 15, GNA - The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has developed the Event Mobile Application (EMA-i) tool to support surveillance end reporting mechanism at the national level for priority diseases in the animal health system.
The overall goal is to enhance and implement the application in 20 Districts in the Brong Ahafo, Volta and Upper East Regions for the better management of emerging and endemic diseases and animal related human risks.
Dr. Gyiele Nurah, Minister of State in Charge of Agriculture, speaking at a workshop to launch the application said increased livestock production was an integral part of moving agriculture beyond aid in the country.
As part of the launch 30 Smart phones, 30 SIM cards loaded with credit for three months, with internet access, four computers, one each for the three pilot regions and one for the national Veterinary Services Department headquarter were presented to the participants.
The EMA-i allows veterinarians or other animal health experts to enter geo-reference epidemiological data into an application and transmit these data to a database directly from the field using their smart phones in real time for further validation.
The Application will be implemented for an initial period of three months starting from December 2018 to February 2019 to test and validate the technology in the field and based on the results for data collection and assessing the benefit, government intended to institutionalise the application as the official reporting system for the District Veterinary Offices nationwide.
Dr. Nurah commended the timely detection and response of the Veterinary Service in containing the outbreaks of the avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, which occurred in June 2018 in Ashanti and Eastern Regions.
He said nevertheless, the Service still uses hard copy paper reporting formats for submission of monthly reports in this modern ICT age.
The Minister said it was therefore welcoming news that a training workshop organized by the FAO EMA-i - Ghana Pilot Project was taking place to introduce the use of digital technologies for real time reporting of animal diseases.
He said really, this was a step towards the application of digital technologies to enhance early detection, timely reporting and prompt response of animal disease events in the country.
He said the Veterinary Services Directorate of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture played a key role in ensuring abundant and affordable supply of animals and animal products for the Ghanaian consumer.
He said this would significantly thus contribute to the vision of Ghana Beyond Aid of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.
He said the benefits of the EMA-i digital technologies include: enhancing timely reporting of disease information from local to central level; enhancing quality of information transmitted from local to central level and effective and early response to disease threats.
Others are enhancing feedback on guidance, advice, services, access to veterinary drugs to support disease management, improve communication between actors (veterinary services, animal health workers, laboratory experts), easy to maintain and sustain in the long term with limited resources Cost/effective compared to traditional systems.
Dr Abebe Haile Gabriel, the Assistant Director for FAO Africa said as pioneer users of this EMA-i for animal health reporting in the country, “I will sincerely urge all trainees to be passionate, committed and to ensure the prudent use of the smart phones and desktop computers so that they will last for a very long time”.
He said the scaling up of EMA-i application to other districts would be determined by their success in the pilot phase.
The Assistant Director said indeed, the use of IT technology was wide spread in all sectors of agriculture sector and already, Ghana has implemented an e-extension system for farmers.
“Therefore, the introduction of EMA-i is timely for the animal health sector, the Veterinary Service should therefore embrace and own the EMA-i system with all seriousness and make all efforts technically and financially to ensure that it works, and ultimately to cover the whole country within a short period after the initial pilot phase of six months,” he added.
He said the application implementation would improve reliable real-time reporting and data mapping of animal disease information, support risk management through early warning, disease management and response and reduce delays in the response to disease outbreaks.
GNA
Read Full Story
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS