AUSVETPLAN
Effective responses to animal disease emergencies require planning at national, state/territory and district levels, as well as the involvement of animal health authorities, livestock industries and emergency management organisations.
The Emergency Animal Disease Response Agreement (EADRA) is a contractual arrangement that brings together the Commonwealth, state and territory governments and livestock industry groups to collectively and significantly increase Australia’s capacity to prepare for, and respond to, emergency animal disease (EAD) incursions.
For all diseases listed in the EADRA, there is a preferred approach to an outbreak. These preferred approaches have been developed and agreed upon by governments and relevant industries in ‘peacetime’ – i.e. before any EAD outbreak – and are captured in the Australian Veterinary Emergency Plan (AUSVETPLAN) Disease strategies and response policy briefs.
AUSVETPLAN is a comprehensive framework of manuals that sets out the various roles, responsibilities and policies to be followed by all agencies in an EAD response. AUSVETPLAN manuals are also used for training purposes and during exercises to ensure that relevant structures and processes are in place, with appropriately qualified personnel well in advance of an EAD outbreak.
The availability of agreed AUSVETPLAN Disease strategies ensures that informed decisions about the policies and procedures needed to manage an EAD incident in Australia are immediately at hand and there is no time lost in mounting the response. For this to occur, as many policy principles as possible should be agreed in ‘peacetime’.
The value of AUSVETPLAN Disease strategies was demonstrated, for example, by the successful response to, and eradication of, equine influenza from Australia following the outbreak in 2007. In addition, lessons learnt from the actual response have been incorporated into an improved revised disease strategy for equine influenza.
AUSVETPLAN Manuals and Supporting Documents
| Summary document | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Disease Strategies | Operational Procedures Manual | Enterprise Manuals | Management Manuals | Guidance Documents |
| • Individual strategies for diseases
• Bee Diseases and Pests • Response Policy Briefs (for diseases not covered by individual manuals) |
• Decontamination• Destruction of Animals
• Disposal Procedures • Public Relations • Valuation and Compensation • Livestock Management and Welfare • Wild Animal Response Strategy |
• Artificial Breeding Centres
• Dairy processing • Feedlots • Meat Processing • Pig Industry • Poultry Industry • Saleyards and Transport • Zoos |
• Control Centres Management Manuals(Parts 1&2)
• Laboratory Preparedness |
• Guidance Document for the use of Avian Influenza (AI) Vaccine in the Event of an AI Outbreak in Australia
• Guidance Document for Premises Classifications • Guidance Document for the Management of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in Pig Enterprises |
| Resource Documents | ||||
| • Sourcing Vaccines for Responses to EADs• Bee Resource Documents• Persistence of Disease Agents in Carcases and Animal Products | ||||
The AUSVETPLAN manuals and supporting documents cover the following elements of EAD preparedness and management:
- Summary Document describes the components of AUSVETPLAN and outlines their functional relationships.
- Disease strategies for most of the EADs listed in the EADRA, including bee diseases and pests(Note: bovine tuberculosis (due to Mycobacterium bovis) is addressed separately). Each disease strategy provides the information that allows authorities to make informed decisions about the policies and procedures needed to manage an EAD incident in Australia.
- Response policy briefs for the remaining EADs listed in the EADRA that represent a lower likelihood of entry and less severe consequences. Cost sharing between government and livestock industries applies.
- Operational procedures manuals describe in detail the recommended procedures for aspects of the EAD response, such as the destruction of animals, animal disposal, decontamination of sites and communications.
- Enterprise manuals provide information and guidance to government and industry personnel and veterinarians involved in EAD preparedness and response activities with specific risk enterprises, such as beef cattle feedlots.
- Management manuals provide a management structure and information flow system for control centres and laboratories handling an EAD outbreak at national, state/ territory and local levels.
- Resource documents provide information of a general technical nature to stakeholders both during an EAD outbreak as well as during peacetime. AHA gives no warranty that the information contained in these documents is correct or complete.
- Guidance documents provide general guidance to personnel involved in an EAD outbreak, to assist with understanding relevant policies and procedures. AHA gives no warranty that the information contained in these documents is correct or complete.
At any one time, several of these manuals are under review to ensure the information contained is up to date.
These documents are in Acrobat PDF format. Click here to download Adobe Acrobat (free) used to view the PDF documents.
Further Information
If you have a query about AUSVETPLAN or would like to suggest a change to a manual, please contact:
Chairperson of the AUSVETPLAN Technical Review Group
Animal Health Australia
Suite 15, 26-28 Napier Close
DEAKIN ACT 2600
Email: ChairTRG@animalhealthaustralia.com.au
Page updated: 28 September 2011