Vets Help Iraq Rebuild Veterinary Infrastructure

RALEIGH, NC - 11/10/06 - Against the backdrop of war and shrouded in secrecy and heavy security, six American veterinarians traveled to Northern Iraq recently to meet with about 90 of their Iraqi counterparts. This was not a relief effort, but a first initiative within any professional sector for helping Iraqi veterinarians make plans for re-establishing what could be thought of as their veterinary infrastructure.

“When most people think about rebuilding a nation, they naturally think of roads, buildings, electricity, water and social services,” says Dr. Prema Arasu, associate professor of parasitology at North Carolina State University's College of Veterinary Medicine. “But, think about it. Animals are so much a part of any society. Typically, in war-torn countries, we see a rise in animal diseases, which, of course, affects the food supply. Helping them rebuild their food supply and improve their national health plan will be important to their ability to again become a self-governing nation.”  

Other issues the team addressed included the transmission of animal diseases to humans. For example, a major problem in Iraq is brucellosis, a bacterial disease transmitted through non-pasteurized milk and cheese, which can cause headaches, fever, weight loss and general weakness in humans.

Arasu notes that Iraq has a rich history of animal production and agriculture. Iraq was once self- sustaining and exporters of meat and animals, but the country now imports about 80 percent of their food, largely from the United States.

Arasu recently spent a week in Erbil with veterinarians from Colorado State University and the University of Kentucky, along with veterinarians from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Army Veterinary Command. With support from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the objective was to help the Iraqis establish goals and priorities for veterinary public policy, including legislation, targeting of scant resources and ways to work across regions and public/private sectors to re-establish a platform for best veterinary practices.

“When the needs are so great, planning and creating committees may not sound like a major solution, but these veterinarians went away with some unity among themselves, a sense of partnership with their central ministry administrators, focus on the greater needs of the nation and the rudiments of a strategic plan for meeting their needs,” Arasu said.   “It was a privilege to work with them as well as the U.S. Army Civil Affairs veterinarians led by Lt.Col. Deanna Brown and Drs. Linda Logan, Mo Salman, Paula Cowen, Craig Carter and Max Coats.”