National Contingency Plan for Animal and Plant Diseases

The National Contingency Plan for Animal and Plant Diseases 2016 is an interdisciplinary plan prepared with the aim to bring together different academic disciplines, and to use past cases of animal and crops diseases in Rwanda to offer fresh insights into animal and plant disease threats and disease management.
This plan also provides the analysis of the future of disease, using predictive models to extrapolate future trends. It also discusses the tendency for modelers to focus on particular drivers of change (such as global warming) to the detriment of other potentially important social factors such as civil disruption. To increase the resilience of livelihoods disaster risk reduction measures are included in the activities of this policy. These activities are divided into three different phases: a) Preparedness- that includes actions such as the establishment of a national animal disaster risks emergency committee, awareness campaigns for communities, installation of diagnostic capabilities, inclusion of epidemic livestock diseases in national disaster plans, preparation of pertinent legislative and administrative frameworks, access to quality-assured vaccines, training of veterinary officers, and regular health surveillance of domestic animals and plans as well as monitoring of disease outbreaks around the world. b) Response- that includes actions such as arrangements for involvement of the private sector in crisis management, inspections and approval of incoming animals and plants and their by-products, enforcement of regulation on movement of animals, sustained active disease surveillance, and establishment of reliable livestock identification systems. c) Recovery- includes actions such generation of revenue to be used for developing capacity and funding required to cope with emergency situations, design of public communication plans, strengthening of customs and border control staff, activation of any disaster recovery funds to compensate for the loss of livestock, technical assistance to build prevention into recovery operation by investing in biosecurity, and continuous support for surveillance systems.
Regarding governance, the lead institutions in the implementation of this plan are the Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture, and the Rwanda Agricultural Board, while other involved institutions include the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, the Ministry of Local Government, and the Rwanda Natural Resources Authority.