Case Studies

Challenge In 2004, an outbreak of avian influenza in BC led to over half a billion dollars in damages and lost productivity. Efforts to control the outbreak were stymied by a lack of strategic information available on the location of infected and susceptible poultry premises and areas where the disease was likely to spread to next. Based on this experience, it became clear to the Canadian Veterinary Public Health community that better GIS-based tools were required to respond to animal health events in a timely and effective manner. In Manitoba, this lesson was reinforced in 2007 during an avian influenza exercise: collecting premises information at the beginning of an outbreak and conducting ad-hoc mapping proved unreliable and slow. To address these concerns, the Government of Manitoba implemented a mandatory Premises Identification Program that requires the assignment of a unique number to any premises in the province where livestock and poultry are grown, kept, assembled or disposed of. The next step was to develop an application that would allow premises data to be leveraged during an animal health event to track and visualize disease spread, support strategic and operational decisions and share mission critical information with stakeholders. Limited resources meant that the application would need to be developed both quickly and cost-effectively using in-house resources and expertise. Animal Emergency Decision Support System minimizes damage and supports coordinated response Failure to prevent the spread of animal diseases could cost Canada's livestock industry billions of dollars. Unchecked spread of animal diseases also has the potential to put human health at risk since more than 75% of emerging infectious diseases in humans originate from animals. To protect human health and ensure the viability of the livestock sector in Manitoba, the Chief Veterinary Office of Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development (MAFRD) developed a GIS-based decision support system that provides a common operational picture during animal health events. 1 Esri Canada | Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Development manages animal health events with GIS "Our GIS-based Decision Support System allows us to visually track the spread of disease, predict where it will likely spread next and make quick, vital decisions based on this information." Heather Martens Traceability Coordinator MAFRD

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