Can Zoning and Compartmentalization Curb Outbreaks?
Document Type
Book
Files
Publication Date
Fall 9-16-2024
Description
Disease outbreaks, whether human or animal, are happening more frequently in our world. Though imports and exports of commodities could help offset product supply imbalances that result from outbreaks, they have further increased the risk of the spread of infectious diseases from the points of production and processing to near and faraway destinations. Transboundary Animal Diseases (TADs) are diseases of significant economic, trade, and food security importance for many countries. This is because they easily spread to other countries and reach epidemic proportions. Therefore, the control/management, and exclusion of TADs require cooperation between several countries. To control TADs, the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) have collaborated to develop a legal framework to ensure safe animal and public health during international trade. Two notable strategies are zoning/regionalization and compartmentalization. Zoning/regionalization is a procedure a country may implement to ensure animal populations or subpopulations within a distinct geographical region within its territory remain disease-free. However, where geographical containment is not feasible because of factors like the mechanical transmission of the TAD, for instance by migratory birds, compartmentalization may be a better strategy to adopt. Compartmentalization is the procedure of using strict biosecurity measures to separate animal sub-populations that present different health statuses from each other. Regionalization and compartmentalization strategies are met with foreseeable challenges. Animal stakeholders may only adopt control strategies with benefits that outweigh the corresponding costs to them. Also, investments would have to be made to educate the public and animal stakeholders on adopting these disease control strategies. Regardless of whether regionalization or compartmentalization strategies are adopted, the decision to trade will ultimately be determined by the importing country’s assessment of whether its acceptable level of risk can be met during the intended trade.
City
Burlington, Vermont
Keywords
Transboundary Animal Diseases (TADs), international trade, regionalization, compartmentalization
Recommended Citation
Osuagwu, Johnbosco, "Can Zoning and Compartmentalization Curb Outbreaks?" (2024). Food Systems Summit 2024. 27.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/fss2024/27
