Politics, politics.....NED and CEM

The long summer (?) political recess is over and the party conference season is upon us.  I look forward to seeing you at Congress, where the Firing, Insurance and Paraprofessional debates should provide the intrigue, passion and stalemate that British politics provides. Meanwhile, the analogy continues in that a couple of hot potatoes were served during the holidays.

The National Equine Database (NED) had its funding withdrawn unceremoniously and somewhat suddenly by defra. There had been a tendering process in place for NED and we had been awaiting the results of this, not the complete abandonment of the project...

We are all aware that NED wasn’t quite fulfilling the roles required but the general feeling was that it just needed to be better supported, financially and with data input. Knowledge of where the horse lives would be the primary requirement in the advent of a disease outbreak and this information is sorely lacking in the database. Also, compliance with the registration of change of ownership, horse death and horses with foreign passports has been woefully inadequate. However, a paper written by Newton et al indicated that despite its flaws the database certainly has its usefulness for epidemiology, population statistics and so on. Furthermore despite this and known difficulties in access, emphasis on the wrong data and many other issues, NED  is the only equine database we have. We can’t just abandon it.

Interestingly, it appears that defra  were advised to abandon NED on the advice of the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England, (AHWBE) seemingly without consulting the equine industry “sector council”. Despite some inevitable teething problems, since the formation of the AHWBE the equine industry has been quite organised in putting a sector council together, a confluence of the Equine Health and Welfare Strategy Group and the British Horse Industry Confederation, so consultation would not have been difficult.

BEVA has been involved in the defra passport expert group since its beginning. Utopian plans for a single Passport Issuing Organisation were unrealistic, but the 80 PIOs have organised themselves into a public interest company and are keen to take the system forward. The British Equestrian Federation is/was the sole shareholder of NED and BEVA is supporting them in plans to salvage the database, secure funding and develop it into a more useful tool for disease surveillance and contingency.

Meanwhile, questions are being asked in the House of Commons as the Members return.....

The second hot potato is CEM, outbreak and how to handle them and the future of its notifiable status. BEVA is a strong supporter and advocate of the world-renowned HBLB Codes of Practice for Equine Diseases. There have been two extended incidents of CEM this year, one involving an untested stallion in Gloucestershire and the other, imported semen from Germany. Defra’s Core Group of contacts have been kept informed, and this includes BEVA. The outbreaks and extensive investigations that have followed and that are still ongoing, have proved costly to government and defra and the AHVLA have made it clear that this is not acceptable.

BEVA are fully supportive of CEM’s and other diseases’ notifiable status, but accepts that the cost of treatment and surveillance must be borne by the owner and/or the industry – not government. Having notifiable status, i.e. enforcement, is essential to ensure that such diseases can be controlled. Under the “sector council” system described above, BEVA have a lead role in coordinating changes that defra will bring in as budgets are cut.

Roly Owers, BEVA Treasurer and Chief Executive of World Horse Welfare, chairs the Disease Coalition, a small group of experts from across the industry. The Disease Coalition is the advisory group for the equine industry sector council and I urge all sectors of our disparate industry to appreciate this and to use it. Defra is aware that the high standards set by the HBLB Codes of Practice are often not adopted by non-TB parts of the breeding industry. BEVA, working through the Disease Coalition and feeding into government by the Animal Health and Welfare Board for England, has a very important role to play here.

 Equine veterinarians, whether working with hobby horses, competition horses, thoroughbreds and even travellers must show a measured, coordinated and professional approach in these hard and changing times. We should continue to support the recommendations of the HBLB Codes, which will include updated measures for AI, and commit to educating our clients about the importance of disease control in the UK and its relevance to them.