National Animal Health Surveillance System Strategic Plan

The National Animal Health Surveillance System Strategic Plan is a national sectoral plan of the United States of America. Its main objective is to establish and maintain the expertise and infrastructure for early detection and global risk surveillance for foreign and emerging diseases; evaluation and enhancement of surveillance for current disease control and eradication programs; monitoring of disease trends and threats to animal and veterinary public health in the U.S. and other countries; assessment of risk; and timely dissemination of animal health information, especially to those partners obligated to respond. The NAHSS will contribute to the establishment, improvement and maintenance of animal health, veterinary public health and associated food safety and environmental health systems. The NAHSS, as one of many components both within and outside of agriculture working closely with the Department of Homeland Security, will improve the ability to detect bio-threats amidst the background noise of bio-events.
This strategic plan provides the framework to set priorities and create a roadmap for the transformation of current and development of future surveillance activities into the NAHSS which will assure greater protection from endemic, emerging and foreign animal diseases to our nation’s animal populations. The plan will emphasize the necessary links to other surveillance efforts including those outlined in HSPD-9 and those identified in existing veterinary public health and food safety surveillance systems. Surveillance by definition implies that action will be taken when a pre-defined threshold of disease incidence is exceeded. All goals, objectives and actions identified in this plan will consider and be linked where appropriate with disease eradication, control program and emergency management response plans. The plan will be updated and modified as needed and as new features of the NAHSS are contemplated, evaluated, and implemented.