Veterinary exchange program with Himachal Pradesh kicks off

January 22, 2025

The Crawford Fund Victoria Committee recently supported a workshop designed to introduce novel concepts of livestock population medicine (disease ecology) to 16 faculty members and post-graduate students at Negi Veterinary University in Palampur, India.

The Australian veterinary team that travelled to India consisted of Prof Grant Rawlin and Dr Jeff Cave from Agriculture Victoria and Prof Roger Paskin and Dr Surinder Chauhan from the University of the Melbourne. The team together embodied the three foundations of a good veterinary service – laboratory skills, field veterinary skills and epidemiology skills.

The five-day workshop was opened by the Dean of the university with a ceremony of lighting of the lamp of knowledge, and as well as laboratory and information sessions, it included a practical session of participatory veterinary epidemiology at a nearby farming village.

The subjects delivered by Profs Rawlin and Paskin covered disease investigation, area-wide disease assessment through active surveillance and ongoing situation monitoring through passive surveillance. There was an introduction to some statistical testing, geographic information systems and EpiCollect5, a data collection app. Gratifyingly, some participants immediately began using EpiCollect5 in their own research projects explained Prof Rawlin.

“A key aspect of the workshop was the introduction of the concept of holism in epidemiology – ‘we talk to the earth, we talk to the animals, we talk to the people and we talk to the data’,” said Prof Rawlin.

“This involves assessing local ecology, livestock condition, owner interviews/farm system assessment and integration with quantitative epidemiology. It is key to note that the holistic approach to understanding the operation and control of animal disease in the ecosystem is not one that is taught in the Indian veterinary system, which concentrates on an individual medicine approach,” he said.

“This area of “population medicine” as opposed to ‘Individual medicine” is not currently part of routine veterinary approach in India. The new paradigm was well received by most of the audience who found the shift in thinking very welcome,” he said.

“The participatory epidemiology fieldwork at a nearby village demonstrated a gentle method of working with farmers to define disease pathways and biosecurity risks in the locale,” he said.

“During the teaching periods, Dr Cave was given access to stored samples of Lumpy Skin Disease virus and Peste des Petites Ruminant virus (PPRV). Both of these diseases are exotic to  Australia. He used the opportunity test a new field diagnostic system (LAMP) on these samples that would not be available in Australia, and the testing procedure was successful,” said Prof Rawlin.

“Further work will be carried out after our departure using reagents we have left behind. The local scientists will also perform further PCR tests to pair results between LAMP and PCR. This will be co-ordinated from Australia using a model we have used to collaboratively develop tests in Timor Leste,” he said.

“Discussions on future collaborations involving further work and staff exchanges were held at the government and university level, with potential for the training initiative to be extended from Himachal Pradesh to the dairy-focused State of Gujarat in the future,” he said.

“The University would also welcome Victorian staff to work with their clinical teams on livestock medicine, with FMD and other key livestock diseases near Palampur peaking just after the monsoon when the migratory flocks are passing,” he said.

“Australia benefits from such training initiatives by gaining knowledge about diseases that exist in neighbouring countries, which boosts our biosecurity preparedness. Through establishing linkages to explore future staff exchanges between Himachal Pradesh veterinary services and Australian veterinary services, our officers can gain experience around important diseases such as Foot and Mouth Disease and Lumpy Skin disease,” he said.

Prof Rawlin acknowledged that the workshop was short, and that the program was packed, however he explained it was the team’s aim to expose the group to the full gamut of epidemiology so that they could be aware of what is possible and decide which aspects they would like to experience further.

“The workshop was judged by the participants to have been successful and it has awakened a strong interest in all aspects of epidemiology and more remote mentoring will be needed to keep momentum,” he concluded.

This training builds on a workshop previously funded by the Fund’s Victorian Committee jointly organised by the University of Melbourne, Agriculture Victoria, and the Department of Animal Husbandry, Shimla Himachal Pradesh in India.