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U.S., Azerbaijan Veterinarians Work Together to Face Health Threats

10 March 2009 14:26 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Victoria Dementieva-APA. In collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and State Veterinary Services, the U.S. Embassy this week is hosting a training program for 150 local Azerbaijani veterinarians and 30 veterinary students from the Azerbaijan Agricultural Academy. The project, led by top U.S. veterinary experts, is designed to improve coordination between veterinarians and public health officials in identifying significant health threats in animal populations, including avian influenza.
Animal-borne diseases can spread quickly across international borders, especially as trade and transportation networks develop. Regional and global collaboration in detecting and responding to health threats is crucial, according to the program organizers.
The week-long training project is organized by the Embassyâ€™s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). A team of top U.S. university veterinarians, led by the University of Illinois, is conducting the training workshops.
DTRA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, is best known for its 15 years of work with states of the former Soviet Union in securing, safeguarding and eliminating weapons of mass destruction under the Cooperative Threat Reduction Initiative. But DTRA programs also include close collaboration with partner nations in improving defenses against biological threats, ranging from naturally occurring diseases to biological terrorism.