GOVERNMENT livestock experts are preparing a national foot and mouth disease (FMD) control program in line with World Animal Health Organisation disease control standards, said a senior officer.

Dr Aung Gyi, director general of the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department, was addressing the 10th meeting of the Malaysia-Thailand-Myanmar Tri-State Commission on foot and mouth at Sedona Hotel in Yangon on June 9 and 10.

The objectives of the program include increased income, food security, enhanced quality of life for rural communities, and increased agricultural output and livestock production, he said.

“To implement the plan, it is necessary to establish a feasible FMD control area and gradually extend it to neighbouring areas throughout the country,” said Dr Aung Gyi. It is also necessary to integrate and participate in regional initiatives for improved FMD control, he said.

Myanmar’s approach to zoning is attracting interest throughout Southeast Asia, said Dr Aung Gyi, who said Tanintharyi Division, Sagaing Division, eastern Shan State and Rakhine State had been targeted as zones under the national FMD control program. Tanintharyi Division has been designated as the scene of the Malaysia-Thailand-Myanmar peninsular campaign to eradicate FMD, he said.

Dr Aung Gyi said Myanmar had established an FMD eradication zone in Kawthaung District, a control zone in Myeik District and a buffer zone in Dawei District in Tanintharyi Division.

Outbreak investigation and management training was held in Myeik and Mandalay last January to expand knowledge of outbreak investigation, sample collection, sample submission and emergency control measures and bio-security, he said.

Dr Aung Gyi said that haemorrhagic septicaemia, foot and mouth disease, black quarter and anthrax were the major infectious diseases of cattle and buffaloes in Myanmar.

FMD is the only contagious disease of high incidence that has never been brought under systematic control in Myanmar, he said.