What's the Value of SHIC Disease Monitoring Reports to the Swine Industry?

(Canva.com)

How valuable are the Swine Health Information Center’s (SHIC) monthly domestic and global swine disease monitoring reports? A recent survey says they are extremely valuable. Here's why. 

SHIC conducted a survey to determine how the reports are being utilized, addressing both SHIC’s domestic and global reports, including questions on value, actionable content, use of data, additional pathogens and opportunities for improvement. Responses were received from the U.S., across 10 states and internationally, with most individuals being private practice veterinarians, academics, pork producers and federal government employees.

>>Respondents widely agreed that both reports are valuable, with 100% (domestic) and 91.4% (global) of participants responding yes when asked if the monitoring reports provided valuable information, SHIC reports. Respondents noted the most valuable aspects of the domestic report included “reliable information on time,” “keeps me up to date on new threats,” “concise report to reference when talking to producers and decision makers regarding domestic disease,” and “graphs allow for comparison of my clients’ herds to the nation.” Similarly, the global report comments on value included “trusted source,” “important to understand the movement and changes in global health issues,” “useful as a teaching tool,” and “good indication on what disease pressures are around the world.”

>>Respondents said the tool provides actionable content which affects their day-to-day decision making. SHIC said most respondents agreed, with 75% (domestic) and 55.9% (global) of participants responding they do. Examples of how this content guides decisions included “budgeting and forecasting for the business,” “if PRRS is trending up in an area, we may do additional testing,” “vaccinate or not,” “notification of regional risks to clients,” “helps me fine tune biosecurity,” and “rethink opportunities for area contamination or elimination.” Likewise, the global report comments on decisions included “utilize examples from this report to communicate the biosecurity message to producers and decision makers,” “is our research focused in right direction for emerging risks,” “allows me time to make informed risk management decisions,” and “awareness of where ASF is from a travel standpoint.”

>>Respondents agreed the reports are valuable to educate stakeholders. Additionally, respondents reported the reports help them stay up to date on diseases affecting production and exports, understand disease trends regionally and status of national herd, know pathogen variants, advise clients and producers, personal education, research purposes, and help them stay up to date on regulatory diseases and review protocols. Additional pathogens suggested by respondents to include were Erysipelas, Streptococcus equi, PCV3, coccidia, Brachyspira sp., Lawsonia sp., Escherichia coli, sapovirus, and Salmonella sp.

Respondents also shared how SHIC could improve the value of the reports. SHIC reports the potential improvements to the domestic report included adding an interpretation section for quotes that media could utilize, adding information about treatments, inclusion of the economic impact of diseases, increasing regional representation of data, and keeping the report brief with bullet points. Potential improvements to the global report included adding the economic impact of diseases, keeping the report brief, including relevant vaccine information, and increasing report frequency.

Learn more about SHIC here. 

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