Good emergency management practice: the essentials

Page 34

Good Emergency Management Practice: The Essentials

22

and Silver commands. A field simulation practises the role of the Silver and Bronze commands and the field staff (i.e. much of the contingency plan and the operations manual). International observers and trained experts should be invited to simulation exercises as evaluators who can provide feedback on the exercise.

Response training All staff should be thoroughly trained in their roles, duties and responsibilities in a disease emergency. More intense training will need to be given to those who will be in key positions. It should also be borne in mind that any staff member, from the CVO downwards, may be absent or may need to be relieved during a disease emergency for one reason or another. Back-up staff should therefore be trained for each position. Experience has shown that emergency management teams perform better when they train and exercise as a team.

Simulation exercises Simulation exercises are extremely useful for testing and refining the contingency plans, including the operations manual (e.g. SOPs), in advance of any disease emergency. They are also a very valuable means of building teams for emergency disease responses and for training individual staff. The scenarios devised for the exercises should be as realistic as possible, using real data where possible (e.g. for livestock locations, populations and trading routes). The scenario may cover one or more time phases during the outbreak with a range of various outcomes. However, neither the scenario nor the exercise should be overly complicated or long. It is best to test just one system at a time (e.g. operation of a LDCC). Simulation exercises may be done purely as a ‘paper exercise’ or through mock activities – or as a combination of both approaches. At the completion of each simulation exercise, there should be a ‘postmortem’ or review of the results. This review should identify further training needs as well as required modifications to the contingency plans, including the operations manual. A full-scale disease outbreak simulation exercise should only be attempted after the individual components of the disease-control response have been tested and proven. Earlier exercises of this nature may be counterproductive. Care must be taken that simulation exercises are not confused with actual outbreaks in the minds of the media and the public. Notice on a planned simulation exercise should be sent to neighbouring countries and international organizations. Regional or bilateral simulation exercises involving multiple countries can be conducted once national contingency plans have been thoroughly tested. International organizations can assist in coordinating regional exercises.

Public awareness Public awareness campaigns help to maintain vigilance against risks of incursion and knowledge of how to detect and report a disease. Incursions of infectious disease may be due to either illegal activity, someone making a mistake or unwitting introductions of animals in the incubation period. They are then mostly detected and reported by either the livestock keeper or a private veterinarian called


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook

Articles inside

D: GEMP checklist

3min
pages 121-124

C: Risk analysis

18min
pages 111-120

A: Animal disease emergencies: their nature and potential consequences

9min
pages 103-106

Technical and financial support

2min
page 100

B: Risk periods

7min
pages 107-110

Restocking

2min
page 99

Stopping vaccination

2min
page 96

Recovery and rehabilitation of affected farming communities

2min
page 98

Declaration of official recognition of animal disease status

3min
page 97

Communication guidelines – press and public during outbreaks

1min
page 91

Local Disease (Animal) Control Centres

4min
pages 87-88

Difficult or marginalized areas

2min
page 90

National Disease (Animal) Control Centre

2min
page 86

Command and control during an outbreak

2min
page 84

Resource plans

1min
page 79

Risk enterprise manuals

1min
page 78

Operational manuals (or standard operating procedures

3min
pages 76-77

The geographical extent of culling: wide area culling or on a risk-assessed basis

2min
page 66

Management information system: the key indicators of progress

2min
page 69

Culling and disposal

2min
page 65

Contingency plan contents

6min
pages 72-75

Outbreak investigation

1min
page 70

Submission of samples from initial events to regional and world reference laboratories

1min
page 62

Animal health information systems

2min
page 59

Laboratory diagnostic capabilities

2min
page 60

Training veterinarians and other animal health staff

2min
page 55

Other strategies

2min
pages 51-52

Interface between field veterinary services and livestock farmers/traders

2min
page 54

Live bird marketing systems

2min
page 49

Developing cross-border contacts with neighbouring administrations

2min
page 46

Risk analysis processes in animal disease emergency planning

4min
pages 39-40

Incorporating risk analysis into the contingency plan

2min
pages 41-42

Illegal imports

2min
page 45

Updating disease plans

1min
pages 35-36

Contingency plans and operations manuals

2min
page 32

Public awareness

2min
page 34

A national disaster plan

3min
pages 18-20

Surveillance systems

2min
page 31

Compensation policy

2min
page 30

Factors affecting the frequency, size and length of disease emergencies

3min
pages 14-15

Role of central government, local authorities and the private sector

3min
pages 25-26

The required elements of preparedness planning

2min
page 17

Financing

2min
page 29

The value of planning for emergencies

2min
page 16
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.