A two-day workshop on the topic “Control of Brucellosis in BiH” begins today in hotel “Hollywood” in Ilidža.
The workshop is planned within the technical assistance that is financed by the Department of Technical Cooperation of the International Atomic Agency (IAEA) from Vienna in cooperation with the Joint Division of FAO (Organization for Agriculture and Food) and IAEA.
The project in the amount of 300.000 euros was approved in 2012 with the goal to equip the capacity of two accredited laboratories (Veterinary Faculty in Sarajevo and Veterinary Institute Vaso Butozan Banja Luka) through the procurement of necessary equipment, training of laboratory personnel, training of epidemiologists and government officials for a successful fight against this disease that represents a difficult problem not only in livestock but a huge risk for healthy people.
The host of this workshop and key partner in the project is the Veterinary Faculty of Sarajevo and the project leader is prof. dr. Nihad Fejzić.
In the last period all planned laboratory equipment for diagnosing brucellosis was procured, as well as training for laboratory experts in the referential laboratory of the EU for Brucellosis.
The workshop will bring together representatives of government veterinary services at all levels of government, inspectors, laboratory officials, veterinarians from public and private veterinary clinics and stations with the objective of reviewing the current status of the disease in BiH and projections of future measures with concrete proposals for future activities.
At the workshop, in addition to local experts, international experts for brucellosis will attend, such as Dr. Menachem Benai from Israel, Director of the Reference Laboratories for Brucellosis of the International Organization for Healthy Animals (OIE) and Dr. Ivan Naletoski from Vienna, the Representative of the Department of Technical Cooperation Agency for Atomic Energy in Vienna.
Professor Fejzić believes that the topics and discussion at the workshop would have an important role in helping the BiH Veterinary Office in fulfilling EU standards for export of sheep products from BiH to the EU, given that the successful control of brucellosis is one of the key conditions for fulfilling conditions for placement of these products.
