Pork board may create National Swine Health Information Center

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  Andrea Gantz

  The National Pork Board will soon vote on a proposal to create a National Swine Health Information Center.

  From WATTAgNet:
  The National Pork Board will soon vote on a proposal to create a National Swine Health Information Center with funding from the Pork Checkoff. If realized the center would be used as a tool to implement industry preparedness for disease challenges that impact the swine industry. 
  The announcement about the proposal was made during the Iowa State University Swine Disease Conference by
  Harry Snelson, DVM, American Association of Swine Veterinarians (AASV), and Craig Rowles, DVM, Elite Pork, announced the proposed center during the Iowa State University Swine Disease Conference.
  Snelson and Rowles said that the center, if approved, would be funded over a five-year period by a $15 million to $20 million investment by the Pork Checkoff.
  “A board made up of representatives from the National Pork Board (NPB), National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) and AASV will have the responsibility for setting the executive direction of the Swine Health Information Center,” Rowles said. “AgConnect, part of the Institute for Infectious Animal Diseases at Texas A&M, will work with the new Center to put geospatial data with potential disease outbreaks.”
  Rowles said the center would be used as a tool to help implement swine industry preparedness, enhance and supplement non-regulatory disease response and improve swine health management.
  The center, according to Snelson, would focus on global production diseases and would establish a mechanism for evaluating disease implications and prioritizing threats.