“It was an impossible task”: Combating African Swine Fever During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Southern Highlands Province

On March 26, as most of the world was establishing a response to COVID-19, a lab confirmed what authorities in Mendi had suspected: African Swine Fever (ASF) was infecting pigs in Southern Highlands Province. NAQIA staff were tasked with trying to contain, trace and eliminate the disease, securing resources for their response, during the COVID-19 State of Emergency. e

NAQIA’s Chief Veterinary Officer Dr Ilagi Puana met with a UN delegation, led by Resident Coordinator Gianluca Rampolla, in Mendi to share how his team responded to, and controlled, the ASF outbreak. FAO’s Mirriam Mondia and UN Women’s Caroline Nyamayemombe joined staff from FAO and IOM in listening to the strategies implemented to control the spread of ASF and how the COVID response affected their operations.

It is suspected that the disease, which infects and kills pigs but is not a risk to humans, may have arrived in Southern Highlands through imported pork products. However, more information is needed to confirm how the disease first came to Mendi. Collecting comprehensive and reliable data has been a challenge for Dr Ilagi and his colleagues since the beginning of the outbreak. “We work on data, and in April, we didn’t have that data,” said Dr Ilagi. “There was not enough sample and we have a very small team.” He noted that he is one of only two veterinarians at NAQIA.

Estimates of how many pigs have been infected are as high as 20,000, though Dr Ilagi notes there is no way to confirm how widespread the disease has been. Dr Ilagi described the early days of the outbreak as “an impossible task” as the team was restricted from travelling due to the COVID State of Emergency.

Since it was established in May, the ASF taskforce in Mendi’s Local Disease Control Centre has been assisted by FAO through support to awareness and monitoring and surveillance. NAQIA has been successful in controlling the spread of ASF within the disease affected areas of Southern Highlands, Hela and Enga through the establishment of checkpoints and sampling.

“First step is to contain it,” said Dr Ilagi. “Then we need to see how far the disease has spread to develop our response plan. The spread stopped with the establishment of checkpoints in May.”

Following the meeting in Mendi, Dr Ilagi joined the UN team travelling to Tari where he spoke further with Governor Undialu and Hela provincial authorities on the containment and tracing process. As Hela is one of three provinces – together with Southern Highlands and Enga – that has recorded cases of ASF, the team spoke of the importance of working together to combat this and other biological threats.

Though the spread has been contained, there is much information yet to be found on the impact of ASF on families and communities. In addition to loss of livestock, ‘land, women and pigs’ are commonly understood as the three causes of tribal conflict in the Highlands Region and this disease has the potential to incite violence if community awareness isn’t widespread. The FAO team note that they have anecdotal evidence that the outbreak has had a significant impact on livelihoods and that their next step is to look further into the socio-economic impact and possible ongoing effects. This impact assessment will help the UN assist communities in Hela, Southern Highlands and Enga that have been affected by ASF.