On the occasion of the COST and Joint Research Centre (JRC) seminar held last June, Prof. Dolores Gavier-Widén, former Action Chair of COST Action “Understanding and combating African Swine Fever in Europe (ASF-STOP)”, explains how policy impact was achieved by her Action. The ultimate objective of the ASF-STOP network is to improve knowledge of the African Swine Fever, a viral haemorrhagic fever of domestic pigs and wild boars in Europe.
Your Action aimed to influence policy and legislation with the aim to contribute to the prevention, control and eradication of African Swine Fever. How did this work in practice?
Prof. Dolores Gavier-Widén: In practice, we worked hand in hand with policy stakeholders: they were invited to participate at early stages, already during the writing of the proposal to COST. The ultimate goal was to combat the disease, to stop the spread and eradicate it and this is done through the implementation of policies and legislation. These policies and legislation will of course be most effective and applicable if they are soundly based on science. Practical examples: experts of the action provided information to policy stakeholders during scientific meetings organised by the COST Action, to which they were invited and attended. National ministers were invited to open the launching conference of the Action. The Action made important efforts to involve and sometimes integrate policy stakeholders into the scientific and dissemination activities.
A key success factor of your Action is that animal health organisations, the European Commission and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), among others, were invited to participate in the Action. What was your experience of working with these organisations and has the Action influenced their policies in any way?
Prof. Dolores Gavier-Widén: To combat an animal disease of this international dimension requires a joint and coordinated effort of many actors globally. All of them should be brought together to the table. Our Action created opportunities to meet and discuss science and to coordinate strategies. It has been extremely important to work together with the World organization for animal health (OIE), the European Commission, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), and moreover some of their experts were participants of the Action. Yes, I believe the action has provided information essential to policy, for example on appropriate management of wild boar populations, on epidemiological models of spread of the disease, on most effective biosecurity measures, on surveillance and testing, and more. A concrete example is the collaboration of the Action with GARA (Global African swine fever research alliance), OIE, STAR-IDAZ IRC (a platform for coordinating animal disease research globally), and other actors. Together, a knowledge gap analysis and research roadmaps for ASF have been constructed, these have led to prioritisation for research in the European Union- with specific calls to fund such research within H2020 or HE.
A practical example of how the Action contributed to policy is the participation of ASF-STOP experts in working groups or panels of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). EFSA is regularly consulted by the Commission in relation to the disease. Because our Action was part of the ASF working groups, we had a voice and opportunity to respond to specific questions and provided recommendations, which were later taken into account for EU legislation.
EU policy organisations have provided important input to science, helping to focus on most urgent needs and major challenges. For example, the importance of vaccine development was often brought up by policy actors in COST Action meetings, in particular the European Commission. At the same time, they had the opportunity to hear from the scientists in the Action about the progress and also the main scientific challenges of vaccine development.
Another example of a successful collaboration with the European Commission is the participation of ASF-STOP experts at an event organised by the EC Delegation in Beijing and START-IDAZ (a platform for coordinating animal disease research globally). The Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and the Chinese Ministry of Science as well as several senior EU delegates also participated in this event. China is a country severely affected by ASF. The workshop highlighted the research needs and the major research activities going on in Europe and China. This workshop provided another opportunity for the ASF-STOP Action to consult on the topic at an international level.
Watch the full interview here.
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