Summary of publication
The Project for Strengthening Veterinary Services (PSVS) aims to enhance the capacity of eight Southeast Asian countries, namely Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines, to effectively detect and respond to emerging infectious diseases. This is done by assisting these countries to improve veterinary services and strengthen laboratory capacity and regional laboratory networking. High profile transboundary disease events such as SARS, HPAI and swine flu, sweeping the region in recent years have increased the awareness of the important role of veterinary services by government, livestock industries and donors.
The project has a planned duration of 3 years, from 30 June 2007 to 30 June 2010, however, the project was not made operational until September 2007. This Review was therefore conducted at about the two-thirds point of the way through the project. Implementation is by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) through a project coordinator based at its Sub-regional Office in Bangkok, Thailand. Funds are provided to OIE by AusAID (US$1.764M) and DAFF (US$143,850) to run the project. OIE has subcontracted the delivery of the laboratory component to the Australian Animal Health Laboratory (AAHL).