Third Annual Review Meeting of NADEN Reinforces National Commitment to Livestock Disease Surveillance

22 July 2025, Bengaluru

The third Annual Review Meeting of the National Animal Disease Epidemiology Network (NADEN) was held at ICAR-National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics, Bengaluru, from 21–22 July 2025, bringing together NADEN investigators from 27 states and 2 Union Territories, alongside scientists from ICAR-NIVEDI.

Dr. Raghavendra Bhatta, Deputy Director General (Animal Science), ICAR graced the event as the Chief Guest whereas Dr. Divakar Hemadri, Assistant Director General (Animal Health), ICAR, and Dr. P. Srinivasu, Director, Department of Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Services, Karnataka, graced as the Guests of Honour.

In his keynote, Dr. Raghavendra Bhatta reaffirmed ICAR’s commitment to bolstering NADEN and announced a proposal to launch an AICRP on Animal Disease Surveillance, to be tabled in the upcoming EFC. He urged all NADEN centres to ensure high-quality, validated data and called for unified efforts toward the national goal of eliminating FMD, PPR, Brucellosis, and Rabies by 2030.

Dr. Srinivasu emphasized incorporating field-level realities into policy planning and lauded ICAR-NIVEDI’s outbreak response.

Dr. Hemadri underscored the need to strengthen active, sentinel, and environmental surveillance to enhance predictive capacities.

In his welcome address, Dr. Baldev R. Gulati, Director, ICAR-NIVEDI, emphasized the vital role of NADEN centres in generating high-quality field surveillance data. He highlighted ICAR-NIVEDI’s initiatives, including SMS-based monthly disease alerts and technical support to the Livestock Health and Disease Control Programme (LHDCP). He announced the rollout of state-wide sentinel surveillance for selected livestock diseases in 2025–26, in collaboration with NADEN centres.

On the occasion, three new diagnostic kits developed by ICAR-NIVEDI were released:

•    Capripox Detect (Sandwich ELISA for Sheep Pox, Goat Pox, and LSD)
•    FLUKEVEY (Indirect ELISA for bovine fasciolosis)
•    CYSTISURE (Indirect ELISA for porcine cysticercosis)

Additionally, three key documents were launched:

•    NADEN Annual Report 2024–25
•    Sampling Plan for FMD Surveillance
•    Sampling Plan for PPR Immunity Assessment

The two-day event featured detailed state-level presentations and technical discussions that reviewed current surveillance coverage, outbreak trends, implementation challenges, and finalized activity milestones for 2025–26.

(Source: ICAR-National Institute of Veterinary Epidemiology and Disease Informatics, Bengaluru)