The OIE presents an updated and more user-friendly edition of its PVS Tool – Aquatic and encourages Members to continue requesting capacity-building missions.

As part of the evolution of the Performance of Veterinary Services (PVS) Pathway Programme, the OIE has recently published the second edition of the PVS Tool – Aquatic (2021).

A PVS Evaluation using the PVS Tool − Aquatic is undertaken at the request of an OIE Member to evaluate the ability of its Aquatic Animal Health Services to comply with OIE International Standards with the objective of strengthening its performance and governance.

A PVS Aquatic mission raises awareness among stakeholders and supports continuous improvement by assessing 47 Critical Competencies that address the entire aquatic animal health domain (public and private), including human and physical resources, disease prevention, early detection, diagnosis and control capabilities, to mention a few.  

An OIE ad hoc Group of international experts thoroughly reviewed the first edition of the OIE PVS Tool – Aquatic and made modifications to better support Aquatic Animal Health Services in addressing the evolving challenges and priorities in both aquatic animal health and public health.

This new edition offers a more user-friendly approach to facilitate ownership and use at national level by Members, including for self-evaluations to monitor advancements achieved on a regular basis.

It addresses current aquatic animal health issues relating to antimicrobial resistance and antimicrobial use, the One Health approach, bio-threat reduction, and welfare of farmed fish. Finally, it expands the evaluation of biosecurity for aquaculture establishments, a critical element in disease prevention, to reflect the new Chapter 4.1. in the Aquatic Animal Health Code, as well as disease investigation and tracing, food safety in export and domestic markets, and public−private partnerships.

The OIE Aquatic Animal Health Strategy for 2021-2025, launched in May 2021, identifies the need for supporting Members to use the OIE PVS Pathway in order to build more sustainable animal health systems worldwide.

New innovative tools and developments will continue to be released during 2022 to expand OIE’s support to its Members on their path to adapting to the changing and challenging sanitary global context.

More information:
OIE Tool for the Evaluation of Performance of Aquatic Animal Health Services, 2nd edition

Contact: Dr Mario Ignacio Algüerno, Capacity-Building Department (m.alguerno@oie.int)