Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam is targeting more than 90 percent of its communesand wards being free of African swine fever (ASF) by 2022 and thecountry being free of the disease by 2025.

The targets are set in a national plan on African swine feverprevention for the 2020-2025 period that has been approvedby Deputy Prime Minister Trinh DinhDung.

The plan also targets to have 500 safe pig breedingfacilities and 50 safe livestock chains, meeting domestic demand and for export.

It envisages that 90 percent of small and medium pig breedingfarms and 80 percent of large scale ones will have bio-security measures, whilealso working towards a vaccine against ASF.   

To achieve the goals, the country will focus on timelydetection of infected cases and the adoption of preventive measures against ASFas well as minimise economic losses and the negative impact of pork pricefluctuations on society.

Attention will be paid to the application of bio-securityprocedures in pig raising, supervising the disease, culling infected pigs andcontrolling the transportation and sales of pork products.

Testing capacity will be strengthened along with the launchof dissemination campaigns to raise people’s awareness of ASF.

The application of livestock biosecurity aims to keep outpathogens the herd has not been exposed to and to minimise the impact ofendemic pathogens. To carry this out, the food for livestock must have clearorigins and leftover food or use must be minimised.

It is necessary to cull all pigs suspected to be infectedwith ASF.

The National Steering Committee for African Swine FluPrevention and Control was authorised to direct emergency response activitiesacross the country.

The Department of Animal Health is assigned to issuedocuments guiding the implementation of Veterinary Law and set up a nationalsupervising plan on the disease.

The department is also the agency that instructs localitieson the building of safe livestock chain and pig farmings. It is also supposedto support business in exporting pig products to foreign markets.

According to the department, the ASF has reoccurred in 20provinces and cities, resulting in the culling of about 10,000 pigs. The riskof spreading of the disease on a large scale is high, affecting the re-breedingplan and growth of pig herds. Due to the disease, it is difficult to ensure theyield of pork to meet customers’ demand.

There is no approved vaccine against the African swine fevervirus.

It is fatal for pigs and wild boars and can be transmitted ina number of ways, including direct contact and contamination of food waste andfeed./.