RVC named as FAO reference centre
The Royal Veterinary College has been appointed a Food and Agriculture Organisation Reference Centre in Veterinary Epidemiology, the second of its kind in the world.
As an FAO Reference Centre, the RVC will provide specific, independent technical and scientific advice to help accomplish the FAO's mandate, which is to achieve food security for all by raising levels of nutrition, improving agricultural productivity, bettering the lives of rural populations and contributing to the growth of the world economy.
Veterinary epidemiology has a significant role to play in supporting this mandate. The study of disease patterns within animal populations can help to improve food security by both anticipating epidemiological changes in animal populations involved in food production, and by minimising the impact of disease outbreaks on livestock and local communities.
RVC Principal, Professor Stuart Reid, said: "This recognition by FAO is terrific news as it brings into sharp relief the expertise Professor Pfeiffer and his group bring to the global effort towards sustainable food systems and a One Health approach. I am pleased on many levels - for the UK, for the veterinary sector, for the RVC and, as an epidemiologist myself, for our discipline.”
Defra has published guidance for the vet sector ahead of a proposed UK-EU Sanitary and Phytosanitary agreement.
