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Global Rinderpest Action Plan

[GRAP]

In 2011, Rinderpest became the first animal disease to be totally eradicated. GRAP is a joint framework, from the FAO and WOAH, for a post-eradication action plan that lays out the roles and responsibilities of international and regional stakeholders in the 5 stages of the emergency management cycle (prepare, prevent, detect, respond, recover) related to a potential re-emergence of rinderpest.

SUMMARY

The Global Rinderpest Action Plan (GRAP) is an international operational plan designed to make sure that rinderpest, a disease that affects livestock, stays eradicated. Rinderpest was eradicated in 2011 through a mass vaccination and surveillance effort, and is one of only two diseases to ever be eradicated, the other being smallpox. However, there are still stores of the rinderpest virus at laboratories in 24 countries, and there is decreasing expertise and access to diagnostics and vaccines in the wake of eradication. Therefore, GRAP was created to prevent, and prepare for, the potential reemergence of the virus. The Action Plan consists of 5 stages of emergency management : Prepare, Prevent, Detect, Respond and Recover. 

The Action Plan was published in 2018 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). Both the FAO and WOAH have had rinderpest mitigation as a top priority ever since their creation in 1924 and 1945, respectively. The Action Plan was funded by Global Affairs Canada (Weapons of Mass Destruction Threat Reduction Program), the United States of America Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the Government of Japan. The Action Plan was written to advise a large range of stakeholders, such as national governments, academics that work with the virus, livestock keepers, international organizations, development partners and the law enforcement sector. The Plan is available in English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, and Chinese.