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Ministry of Agriculture, GoI's National Animal Disease Reporting System

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Hiren
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Challenges faced

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In the manual system, animal disease reporting was not satisfactory because the disease reporting was neither timely nor complete. As a result of reliance on postal means of communication, reports and returns took considerable time and some were also lost in transit. Hence, the compiled information did not represent the true picture of the disease situation at any given point of time. Many incidents of animal diseases remained out of the reporting system, whose number is believed to be significant.

Company Scenario

Before deployment: The DADF was finding it difficult to obtain a picture of the state of animal health in the country that would be both timely as well as complete. Not only did this hinder effective policy-making regarding animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries, but it also resulted in livestock owners having to opt for expensive veterinary treatment because of the delay incurred.

What was deployed: A nationwide network of nodes was set up that would allow for much faster reporting of diseases (and subsequently action if any needed). Disease reporting was enabled by three channels: web, e-mail and SMS. Very high-end servers were set up at the main site in Hyderabad, accompanied by a smaller-scale DR/BCP site at Pune. Medium-end servers were deployed at the state/UT level.

After deployment: The project has helped to gain a more accurate and timely picture of any possible disease outbreaks. Soon after the launch of the project, an instance of Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) was detected and the necessary preventive actions to contain further spread were carried out.

Implementation partner: NIC and all the state departments of animal husbandry & veterinary services.

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What was deployed

It was therefore proposed to introduce a computerized system of animal disease reporting, linking each Taluka/ block, district and state headquarters to a central disease reporting and monitoring unit at the department of animal husbandry, dairying & fisheries (DADF), Ministry of Agriculture in New Delhi. To achieve this, the DADF, Ministry of Agriculture sponsored the National Animal Disease Reporting System (NADRS), which is being implemented through the National Informatics Centre with the support of state/UT departments of animal husbandry and veterinary services. NADRS aims at effective monitoring of the occurrence of livestock diseases, with a view to enable their early control, which will result in improving the livestock health in the country. NADRS involves establishment of ICT infrastructure and networking of 7032 nodes linking each block, district and state/UT headquarters to the central disease reporting & monitoring unit (CPMU) at DADF in New Delhi. All the notifiable diseases scheduled in the `The Prevention and Control of Infectious & Contagious Diseases in Animals Act 2009' are included in the reporting system.

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The Result

This reporting system enables the block, district and state animal health officials and livestock farmers to report the disease through web-based interface, SMS and e-mail. The system will facilitate rendering of reports via the Internet and will support smoothening of the monitoring mechanism carried out after the reporting of an outbreak disease, which will help in saving time and economic losses to farmers and the country, thereby yielding immediate benefits to the livestock owners and to the economy by way of better health status of animals, prevention of losses due to their morbidity and mortality and improvement in the quality of their products. The system has been designed so as to ensure secure data transfer and confidentiality of information. At the apex level, NADRS will compile and generate animal disease information for the country. The users will have access to the information as per permissions in consonance with their role and responsibilities envisaged under the system. This computerized system will enable fuller and timely reporting of the animal disease situation in the country, enabling its effective management.

Interview: Dr. V.V.S. Murty, Deputy Director General & Head of Group (Agricultural Informatics)
How did you convince the key stakeholders (management, seniors, etc) for rolling out this project?

In the manual system, animal disease reporting was not satisfactory because the disease reporting was neither timely nor complete. As a result of reliance on postal means of communication, reports and returns took considerable time and some were also lost in transit. Hence, the compiled information did not represent the true picture of the disease situation at any given point of time. Many incidences of animal diseases remained out of the reporting system.

It was therefore proposed to introduce a computerized system of animal disease reporting which is one of the components of the major scheme "Livestock Health and Disease Control" (LH&DC), linking each Taluka/block, district and state headquarters to a central disease reporting and monitoring unit at the department of animal husbandry, dairying & fisheries, ministry of agriculture in New Delhi.

How did you overcome user resistance for using this deployment?

There was not much resistance from users since it was a government scheme. Moreover, the users are all highly qualified veterinary doctors who understood the importance of using ICT in the reporting of animal diseases. They were provided exhaustive training on NADRS applications and the portal developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

What is the next big IT project that you're working on?

We have big plans for the strengthening of the NADRS in the 12th five year plan.Some major activities to be performed under NADRS during the 12th five year plan are:

- Networking of Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratories (ADDLs) and workflow software system (978 nodes)

- Development of Disease Intelligence System (DIS)

- GIS-based decision support system

- MIS & workflow application software development

- NADRS portal development & content generation, localisation

Implementation partner interview: Naveen Kumar, Technical Director & National Project Director (NADRS), National Informatics Centre

According to you, what was the most critical success factor for this project?

This reporting system enables the block, district and state animal health officials and livestock farmers to report the disease through web-based interface, SMS and e-mail. The system will facilitate rendering of reports via the Internet and to support smoothening of the monitoring mechanism carried out after the reporting of an outbreak disease, which will help in saving time and economic losses to farmers and the country, thereby yielding immediate benefits to the livestock owners and to the economy by way of better health status of animals, prevention of losses due to their morbidity and mortality and improvement in the quality of their products.

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