Appendix 33 GISVET project in Iran Dr.Vahid Otarod, Dr. Hassan Wishte Iran Veterinary Organization, PO Box 14155/6349, Tehran, Iran e-mail:ivoanimalhealth@ivo.org.ir Introduction: This project is started since 2001, in order to provide GIS information relevant to veterinary use. Animal diseases as heath problems for animal welfare and public health are the topics which are considered to be controlled and eradicated in all of the countries. Implementation of the control measures without determining the specific risk factors associated with each disease can not lead to control of diseases and needs to use huge economical costs. On the other hand, needs of people to food developed international trade which in turn needs more attention to prevent global distribution of the diseases. Epidemiologically, the risk factors for diseases distribution are mainly associated with Agents, Hosts and environment. Parameters of this triad are a lot and the relationship between them determines the situation of the disease and makes their outbreaks conditional. In Iran there is different interaction & relationship between triad epidemiological determinants. There are about 70000 villages and most of rural families as animal husbandmen have less than 10 cows, and also there are a lot of Nomadic tribes &nomadic herds which their movement changes local and temporal distribution of both animals and diseases. Implementation of the control measures without determining the specific risk factors associated with each disease can not lead to control of diseases and needs to use huge economical costs. On the other hand, the complexity of investigation and control of multifactor diseases culminate in establishment of “GIS center” and “Animal diseases geographical information system” (GISVET) by Iran Veterinary Organization. Identification of epidemiological units Definition: Epidemiological unit is a group of animals kept in a specific geographical location with maximum contact among them which define the high risk transmission of diseases. Types of units: – Farms: cattle farms (beef farms & dairy cattle farms) and sheep farms. – Villages: rural animal husbandmen & rural herds. – Pastures: which can be used by rural herds or nomadic herds. – Camel herds. – Riding clubs. Locations: – Epidemiological units. – Slaughter houses. – Sale yards. – Milk collecting centers. – Veterinary offices. – Veterinary-faculties. – Stud-bull stations. Registration of coordinate of locations I.V.O has organized veterinary offices in all of the townships, so registration is performed by one of the official vet-Officers in township level. In order to reduce the error of location registration, these vet-officers in all of the provinces are trained by Dr.V.Otarod & Dr.H.Wishte.They are trained to operating with GPS&to complete Registry forms. Registry forms which are gathered specifically to fulfill the requirement of GISVET project and are not available from pre-existing data. Controlling the random samples of registry papers is necessary to collecting “accurate registration”. Processing and finalization of data Processing & finalization of attribute data and also transferring spatial data to central computers in order to convert Georeference database is performed by "national GIS" team.
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