Features When veterinarians are engaged in livestock health in developing countries, they support better health outcomes for humans, they support gender equity and empower women and they allow a new generation to access education. When a veterinarian is engaged in understanding and combating emerging infectious and zoonotic diseases they ensure better human health. It has been a great privilege to contribute to this very meaningful work. As Australia’s delegate to the OIE I have overseen the development of international trade rules which aligns with my main work of developing scientifically based animal health and welfare policy and advice. In 2012, at my first OIE General Session I was elected to the OIE Council representing our region and in 2015 I was elected as Vice-President of the OIE Assembly. In 2015 we were very successful at the OIE elections in getting three Australian experts elected to the specialist commissions, a level of representation not achieved by any other country. What do you hope to achieve during your tenure? The Australian Government places a high priority on protecting and strengthening international rules that guide trade, and actively encourages others to adopt international standards. During the tenure of the OIE Presidency, I hope to: i. Increase member participation in standard setting and encouraging greater adoption and implementation of standards by trading partners. Although all 182 member countries of the OIE participate in its annual meeting, very few contribute to the standard setting process, so I am keen to help all OIE members become active participants. There is concern that OIE members endorse international standards, but not take them up and apply them, so the OIE has initiated a project to investigate why the standards are not more widely implemented. It may be that some countries need to build their confidence and capacity in standard setting and implementation. ii. Improve the transparency and integrity of processes, for example those that lead to OIE acceptance of member country disease statuses and improve accessibility to data that underpins official declarations. The OIE has improved dramatically since 2012 in transparency, accountability and governance, but more needs to be done to build confidence in the institution. Dr Mark Schipp presenting on AMR: Ongoing challenges and opportunities at the AVA 2018 conference. Improved transparency in OIE processes for recognising official disease status has a number of benefits, including improving our confidence in using the OIE’s recognition of trading partners. It also has implications for improving the credibility of the OIE’s official disease/risk recognition system, thereby improving the credibility of the OIE’s recognition of our 8 THE LINK AUT/WIN 18
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