05 The meeting for policy-driven wildlife disease surveillance in Thailand: A Collaborative Wildlife Health Network

Core activity #05

The meeting for policy-driven wildlife disease surveillance in Thailand: A Collaborative Wildlife Health Network

On September 12, 2022, the meeting for policy-driven wildlife disease surveillance in Thailand focused on a collaborative wildlife health network was held at Miracle Grand Convention Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand. The core wildlife health partners who can provide information and collaboration to achieve Thailand’s wildlife disease surveillance system, include the Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plants Conservation (DNP), the Department of Livestock Development (DLD), and the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR), were invited to join a meeting. The meeting objectives were to brainstorm how we can progress with the development of a wildlife health network which needs agreement among the partners. In this meeting, the opening remarks were to be honored and introduced by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Walasinee Sakcamduang, Dean of the Faculty of Veterinary Science, Mahidol University. The welcome remarks were to be honored and introduced by Dr. Jonathan Sleeman, the Center Director from the USGS National Wildlife Health Center, and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Parntep Rattanakorn, Thailand-National Wildlife Health Center.

The significant topics of wildlife disease surveillance systems were delivered by the following speakers.

Dr. Jonathan Sleeman, the Center Director of the USGS National Wildlife Health Center, presented the current wildlife disease surveillance system in Thailand based on a previous study of the Twinning project.
Asst. Prof. Dr.Sarin Suwanpakdee, the director of the Monitoring and Surveillance Center for Zoonotic Diseases in Wildlife and Exotic Animals (MoZWE), presented the topic “What’s the next step?”.

In the workshop, all participants discussed the next step, challenges, and policy that will support the system in topics of moving forward to establishing wildlife general disease surveillance in Thailand and developing a centralized data platform.

In conclusion, all partners agreed that the Thailand National Wildlife Health Center would act as a secretariat among partners to establish the “Thailand (National) Wildlife Health Network.” The policies and activities will be developed by the steering committee at the leadership and technical levels. The focal point of each partner organization will be identified to coordinate among partners of the network. Educating the higher levels and agencies need to communicate the value of the network is an essential step. A regular meeting will increase trust share information and initiate the network. There should be a centralized database system in Thailand. The proposal should be created to inform the partner agencies about the requirements to set up the surveillance system. More discussion is needed about the data system, data access level, security, information sharing, etc., whereas SMART-WHIP may be an appropriate platform for Thailand. Mapping existing resources will be a way to find the gaps to develop the wildlife disease surveillance system.