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Sharing knowledge and acquiring knowledge in Europe
It is useful to acquire new knowledge, but it is also effective to share and argument that knowledge. We therefore regularly participate in international collaborations, like COST Actions. This has provided us with insight into the Irish approach to BVD, for example. Gerdien van Schaik and Inge Santman-Berends tell us more about this.
Within Europe, GD undertakes a variety of forms of collaboration. This may be aimed at the development of new methodologies, while other projects may focus on the sharing of knowledge and encouraging collaboration, so-called COST Actions. GD is involved in two such projects: “STOC free and SOUND control,” Gerdien explains.
SOUND control
“SOUND control (Standardizing OUtput-based surveillance to control cattle Diseases of cattle in the EU) is a COST Action in which we look at the possibilities to evaluate the results of various animal disease control programmes in an output-based manner,” Inge continues. “Each country has its own control programme for endemic diseases such as bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) and infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) for example, tailored to the local situation.”
The variety in control programmes results in a variety of disease statuses which are all referred to as being ‘free’. The definition of the BVD free status in the Netherlands differs from that definition in Ireland, for example. In this project, the basic question was: ‘How can we compare these ‘free’ statuses?’ Inge: “We are aiming to move towards output-based surveillance. This means that we want to stimulate initiatives that focus on the outputs of differently designed control programmes instead of prescribing the design of control programmes. We very much stimulate southern and eastern European countries to participate, to share knowledge and experiences. In this project, which is chaired by GD, 33 countries collaborate to reach mutual agreements on the definitions of output based surveillance, the data that is needed, the methods to be used and future perspectives. It is relevant to learn from each others control programme and understand the reasons why these programmes were designed in a certain manner”.
STOC free
Gerdien van Schaik (GD and UU) coordinated the technical STOC free project (Surveillance Tool for Outcome-based Comparison of FREEdom from infection) which is financed by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and by public organizations in the countries concerned, including the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Safety. “In this project we examine how we could determine freedom from infection with BVD. BVD, a disease with a complex ethology, was used as an example to find out how we can assess the BVDV-free herd status in the six countries involved. That proved to be challenging,” Gerdien explains. “We were able to develop a model at the herd level, as that is the most relevant for BVD. Because GD is extensively involved in to control of BVD in the Netherlands, it was a logical choice to participate in this project.”
Networking is key
More than one hundred researchers from more than thirty countries were involved in these two projects. “The first step towards sharing knowledge was successful,” says Gerdien. “And knowledge sharing is exactly the point of such projects. We can learn from each other and when you are aware of how other countries fare, you recognise the importance of looking further afield.” Inge agrees. “This is an informal way of establishing many contacts. There lies the strength of these projects; such contacts will persist even after the projects are complete. It’s all about sharing knowledge and acquiring knowledge.”
MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THESE PROJECTS WWW.STOCFREE.EU OR WWW.SOUND-CONTROL.EU
