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Home > Working Groups, Councils & Committees > Future Animal Health Science Working Group

Developing an Animal Health Science Agenda
for the National Animal Health Strategy (NAHS)

Backgrounder

February 15th, 2008

Prepared by TDV Global Inc.

<Annex B. Working Group on Future Animal Health Science Table of Contents  

Annex C – Commonalities for Future Animal Health Science

Commonalities for Future Animal Health Science
  Research Risk Analysis Diagnostics Surveillance Emergency Preparedness and Response
Science Outcomes
  • Integration of systems
  • Monitoring : individual animal / human
    • Population level
    • Use in feedback, decision making (RT)
  • Societal understanding of the entire system and how science will meet societal objectives
  • Public confidence, influence by science
  • Traceability. ID – animals, food, toxic, genes, etc
  • Efficiency of water energy use, lower environmental impact
    • “Closed” – loop systems for safety, efficiency
  • Animal welfare
Organization
  • Multi-disciplinary, multi-jurisdictional across innovation systems
  • New organizations required
  • Info sharing & common approaches to risk analysis
  • Common awareness across organization
  • Systems management approach to science
  • Increased integration, especially with local small producers
  • With increased production, industry will take on a greater role in auditing, QA, standards to ensure public confidence and Animal Health – Public Health integration
  • Increased integration, especially with local small producers
  • Government will have greater involvement in environment / wildlife management
  • Biosecurity risks are prevented, responded to, and contained at the individual / system level
  • Decentralized knowledge and capacity established at the local / community level capacity
People
  • Understanding among Partners and Stakeholders of:
    • The entire system
    • Their roles in relation to the system, as well as the protocol and roles of each member, strengthening overall commitment
  • Employ balanced, “skilled” and “generalists who are metascientists
  • Employ social scientists who understand understanding trends, impacts, psycho-social considerations
  • Develop and use networks
  • Interdisciplinary skills
  • Reward collaboration
  • Risk pathway, knowledge
  • Flexible access to expertise
  • Specialists in modelling
  • Wildlife specialists.
  • Ethics professionals
  • Expertise able to work at the farm level
  • Appropriate training and education at all levels, especially hazard identification
  • Creations of emergency management teams that are able to respond and manage crises
Technology
  • Genomics
  • Informatics
  • Decision support
  • Modelling
  • Team / system support
  • Data management & IT systems to support knowledge transfer
  • Real-time, rapid tests conducted on-farm
  • Trusted early warning systems that are local, real time, diverse and low cost and focussed on animal welfare, environmental impact and disease
  • Miniaturization
  • Use of sensors
  • Communication
Processes
  • Integrated systems to manage increased complexity
  • Integrated risk assessment processes and systems
  • Integrative processes for decision-making;
  • Development of standards
  • Quality assurance processes and real-time laboratory sample tracking
  • National and international surveillance processes
  • Global “Inter-operability” enhances communication (small producers, industry, government, etc)
  • Global action (response, prevention, etc.)
NOTE TO READER:
These documents are works in progress. The substantive content is for discussion purposes and reflects initial perspectives of officials in the National Animal Health Strategy. They will evolve and improve with feedback from readers. These documents do not represent the position of the Government of Canada.
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