Chairman of Thai Thanh Quy Provincial People's Committee: Fighting African swine fever must be truly 'like fighting the enemy'

On the morning of June 3, the Provincial People's Committee held an online conference with 21 districts, towns and cities in the province, urgently deploying solutions to prevent and control African swine fever.

Comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Alternate member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the conference. Attending the conference were leaders of the following departments: Agriculture - Rural Development, Industry and Trade, Planning and Investment, Health, Transport and Communications, Information and Communications, Natural Resources and Environment, Provincial Police, Customs Department, Provincial Border Guard...

Overview of the online conference. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Nghe An destroyed nearly 1,600 pigs

According to the announcement of the Department of Animal Health, as of June 2, 2019, African swine fever occurred in 3,464 communes, 335 districts of 52 provinces and cities across the country, forcing the destruction of over 2.1 million pigs, accounting for 7% of the total herd.

Comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Alternate member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired the conference. Photo: Xuan Hoang

In Nghe An, African swine fever appeared on March 13, 2019, and has now occurred in 272 households in 122 hamlets of 66 communes in 14 districts and towns. The total number of infected pigs destroyed is 1,598, with a total weight of more than 64 tons.

Currently, African swine fever is occurring in 58 communes in 11 districts: Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong, Nghi Loc, Dien Chau, Hoang Mai Town, Hung Nguyen, Anh Son, Quynh Luu, Ky Son, Tan Ky, Yen Thanh.

According to the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the cause of the outbreak and spread of African swine fever in the province in recent times has been determined to be: The transportation of pigs and pig products infected with the pathogen from outside the province to collection and trading points, then reselling them to households for small-scale slaughter without the control of the authorities and local veterinary services.

Comrade Hoang Nghia Hieu - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development proposed that the province provide additional funding to purchase disinfectant spraying chemicals to provide to localities for epidemic prevention. Photo: Xuan Hoang

In the province, the main livestock sector is small-scale (accounting for nearly 80% of the province's total pig herd), making it difficult to apply disease prevention and biosecurity measures in livestock farming. Most livestock farming households have not fully complied with disease prevention procedures as prescribed; disinfection of the livestock environment, tools and vehicles has not been thorough; leftover food is collected for pigs to eat without heat treatment...

The management of slaughter, trade, and collection of pigs and pork products still has many shortcomings. Small-scale slaughtering at locations that do not ensure veterinary hygiene, selling pork on the street, and pork without slaughter control marks are still common.

Mr. Hoang Nghia Hieu - Director of the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development said that, compared to other localities, our province provided 25 tons of chemicals which is not enough for spraying disinfectants. For localities, many districts have paid attention to epidemic prevention and control by allocating budget to buy lime powder, protective gear, sprayers... Most localities strictly implemented solutions to prevent, control and control epidemics.

Destroying pigs infected with African swine fever in Tho Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district. Photo: Xuan Hoang

From the beginning of 2019 to the end of April, the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine coordinated with localities, police, and market management to inspect and handle 82 cases of law violations in the transportation of animals and animal products. Fines totaled more than 354 million VND.

Mr. Le Dinh Hue - Deputy Head of the Veterinary Department of Region III, said that many localities are still passive in slaughter management; lack of means and tools in the process of destroying pigs... so the African swine fever virus can easily spread. Photo: Xuan Hoang

Fighting the epidemic is like fighting against the enemy

Concluding the conference, Comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee emphasized: In the complicated situation of African swine fever, widespread spread, the province determined to consider the prevention and control of African swine fever as an urgent task, focusing on direction at this time; resolutely, drastically, synchronously implementing solutions to prevent and control the epidemic; launching a wide propaganda campaign to fully educate party members, cadres and people, and working with the entire political system to implement the solutions. The head of the government must be responsible to the Party Committee and superiors for the epidemic situation in the locality.

"The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is requested to clarify which sectors, forces, and districts have not done well in the process of implementing the work of preventing and controlling African swine fever, and need to clarify it to promptly overcome it. After this meeting, it is requested that all sectors and localities must take it more seriously, attaching responsibility to the heads, in order to quickly push African swine fever out of the area."

Comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee

The Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested agencies and localities to thoroughly grasp the viewpoint of "fighting the epidemic like fighting the enemy", focusing on all measures and strategies, and working with the whole country to effectively prevent and control the epidemic. To fight the epidemic requires the entire political system to participate and accompany the people; localities that have not yet had the epidemic need to clearly define the viewpoint of prevention rather than cure.

Set up a checkpoint to prevent the epidemic in Dien Kim commune, Dien Chau district. Photo: Xuan Hoang

At the provincial level, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is the standing agency advising on the reorganization of the Steering Committee, and the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee will be the head of the committee. The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development needs to prepare specific, concise propaganda content summarizing the main causes of the disease and specific instructions so that people can easily understand, grasp, and implement.

It is recommended that press agencies promote more strongly, especially epidemic prevention solutions and direction work, have a column on African swine fever prevention to reflect developments, especially guide people on disease prevention measures; praise and criticize agencies, units, organizations and individuals on mass media.

Immediately after African swine fever appeared in Vietnam in early February 2019, the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development issued many directive documents; the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee issued Directive No. 29-CT/TU dated May 27, 2019 and the Provincial People's Committee issued Plan No. 313/KH-UBND dated May 29, 2019 to implement Directive No. 29-CT/TU of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee on strengthening leadership and direction to effectively implement the work of preventing, combating and controlling African swine fever.