Preventing and dealing with emergencies in South America

The authors review the policies designed to prevent and deal with animal he alth emergencies which have been implemented in countries of South America. They describe the evolution of the epidemiological situation of the contin ent, the new arrangements for international trade in animals and products o f animal origin arising from the creation of the World Trade Organization ( WTO), and the consequences of such developments for livestock production in South America. Veterinary systems used to prevent and deal with emergencie s in the eleven OIE Member Countries on the continent are described, togeth er with emerging problems which confront the Veterinary Services of the con tinent, namely: exotic diseases, abnormal occurrence of endemic diseases su bject to control programmes, faults in food-safety mechanisms, diseases whi ch have an environmental impact, and problems connected with animal welfare . The emergencies which present the greatest risk to South America are foot a nd mouth diseases, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, the porcine r eproductive and respiratory syndrome, food poisoning, Newcastle disease and fowl plague. Other problems are the appearance of new strains of existing agents, and the presence of resistant individuals among species of bacteria or harmful arthropods. The authors emphasise the need to co-ordinate the prevention of emergencies with development work at the international level, particularly regional an d international agreements, harmonisation of procedures, progress in animal health and public health, risk analysis, etc. These systems and methods of prevention have a contribution to make in enha ncing the potential of animal production in South America, and the adoption of stricter health and quality standards, according to criteria establishe d by the WTO Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Mea sures.