The Ministry of Agriculture is strengthening Trinidad and Tobago’s animal disease surveillance capabilities through digital technology.
Thirty participants are being trained to use the Event Mobile Application Plus (EMA-i+) to improve the reporting and monitoring of animal diseases, track potential outbreaks and enable faster responses.
According to Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Ravi Ratiram, the initiative forms part of the national animal disease surveillance and reporting framework.
“These individuals are involved in surveillance, data collection and reporting, relating to domestic and wild animal diseases, and they will be subsequently responsible for sharing this knowledge with other expected users.”
A representative from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Tanya Host, noted that the application, developed by the FAO, functions as a real-time digital animal disease reporting tool, replacing traditional paper-based methods with a geo-referenced mobile and web interface.
“The event mobile application is a smartphone app that helps quickly and easily map and monitor potential animal disease outbreaks. It uses data uploaded by technical field officers, extension officers and veterinarians, for example, and creates a real-time geo-tagged reference with the most recent updates of reports of sick animals or suspected zoonotic infections.”
She added that the app securely transmits disease data to a cloud platform, enabling authorised access, automated epidemiological analysis and reports, facilitating a more efficient response to potential animal disease outbreaks.
Minister Ratiram also pointed out that the workshop allows for preliminary testing of the app, which he encouraged trainees to take advantage of.
“The Ministry wants to ensure that the system is practical, responsive, and suited to the realities of our animal health services. The people who work in surveillance and reporting understand those realities best, which is why your feedback during this process is so important, so I encourage you to engage fully, test the system, ask questions and identify areas where further customisation may be required.”
The app is currently used in 14 countries around the world and modified to meet the requirements of each country.
The workshop follows a recent field tabletop simulation held locally in July, geared towards testing the country’s response capacity and capabilities in the event of an animal disease outbreak.