News
International response put to the test in Exercise Athena
22 Dec 2016
From 21 November to 1 December 2016, participants from Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, New Zealand and Canada participated in Exercise Athena, a simulation response exercise held to test the International Animal Health Emergency Reserve (IAHER) operations manual.
The manual is a key aspect of the IAHER Arrangement, which allows signatory countries to share government personnel in the event of an emergency animal disease (EAD) outbreak.
The Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources led the exercise, with assistance from the IAHER signatory countries and Animal Health Australia (AHA). Staff from AHA were also involved in the planning, conduct and evaluation of the exercise, including assisting with the writing of the scenario.
Dr Claire Petterson, AHA’s Training Coordinator, said the aim of the exercise was to determine whether the IAHER operations manual allows for the rapid deployment of personnel when the arrangement is invoked by a recipient country.
“The exercise scenario involved participants from the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources requesting human resources under the IAHER arrangement to respond to a fictional outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. The other IAHER signatory countries, playing the role of donor countries, responded to Australia’s request which involved identifying, selecting and preparing personnel for deployment to Australia. However, personnel were not physically deployed in the exercise,” said Dr Petterson.
As well as testing the manual, objectives for the exercise were for countries to promote awareness of and support for how the IAHER arrangement and manual work, and to try and collect costs associated with deploying and receiving personnel.
The exercise was viewed by the participating countries as a success, with some important findings for both the IAHER operations manual and for AHA’s own processes should the arrangement be invoked.
An exercise report will be finalised next year. Click here for more information on Exercise Athena.