US, Canada, Mexico to work together to prevent ASF spread

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency's Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) for Canada, Dr. Jaspinder Komal, accompanied by Dr. Jack Shere, Chief Veterinary Officer for the United States and by Dr. Juan Gay Gutierrez, Chief Veterinary Officer for Mexico issued an statement about the African swine fever (ASF) forum.

Jointly, they have developed a framework that will support ongoing international collaboration and action in the areas of preparedness planning, enhanced biosecurity, business continuity, and coordinated risk communications.

This framework lays the foundation for:

• A high state of readiness to swiftly control ASF should it enter the Americas region
• Strengthening biosecurity measures to prevent the entry of ASF and mitigate its spread
• Establishing agreements in the swine sector to mitigate the trade impacts of ASF
• Effective communications to best inform Canadians and our neighbouring countries about the risk of ASF

Through the dialogue over the past two days, they have also identified several key partnerships and governance options to advance the implementation of the jointly developed framework at the regional, or the Americas level, as well as at the sub-regional and national levels.