No matter how distant your professional expertise might be from transboundary animal diseases (TADs), such words as Ebola, Swine Influenza (pig flu), or Avian Influenza (bird flu) periodically circulate daily news across the globe.
Whether it raises (mostly unjustified) concerns and fears among regional communities, or contributes to increased research and vaccine development funding, it is evident that the subject of diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans is of high significance for all countries.
Urbanization and settling in previously unexplored areas result in closer contacts with animals and emergence of new transmittable viruses. In addition, globalization may cause rapid and wide spread of diseases. Therefore, cooperation across borders is crucial for disease prevention and control and most importantly for raising awareness regarding risks and treatment of infectious animal diseases and zoonoses[1].
Europa Media is a partner in the LinkTADs project – Linking Epidemiology and Laboratory Research on Transboundary Animal Diseases and Zoonoses in EU and China – co-financed under the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union. The project is aimed at coordinating research on disease control cycle between experts in Europe and China. Coordinated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the LinkTADs consortium includes major scientific institutions in the field of animal health, and consists of five European and five Chinese partners.
Within the framework of the LinkTADs project, Europa Media has recently launched the LinkTADs platform - a web platform dedicated specifically to the EU-China animal health research and cooperation. The LinkTADs platform will serve as a bridge for European and Chinese researchers and is aimed at providing an opportunity and common space for international experts to generate new ideas, discuss ongoing initiatives and start joint collaboration.
We are now encouraging all international researchers studying animal diseases to register on the LinkTADs platform in order to discover cooperation and funding opportunities within ongoing projects and existing initiatives, and contribute to discussions on scientific achievements, discoveries or existing gaps in order to jointly elaborate new project ideas in the field of veterinary research.
LinkTADs platform will also be interesting for anyone, who would like to learn more about TADs and zoonoses, as it includes a section of e-resources on animal health and food safety issues in the field of epidemiology and laboratory sciences in the EU and China. The e-resources section is a thematic library of scientific and analytical materials, collected from open sources. Apart from the in-depth expert analysis, many of the entries include detailed explanations of diseases and their impact on animals and humans written in a comprehensible style.
Visit http://linktads.com to learn more about EU-China cooperation in detecting common challenges and elaborating joint methods and instruments for animal disease control and disease prevention.
[1] Any disease or infection that is naturally transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans (WHO definition)
