Yogyakarta, 13-14 December 2010
On December 13th and 14th, 2010, the Indonesian Veterinary Epidemiology Association (AEVI) held its 2nd National Epidemiology Workshop and 1st Congress at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Gadjah Mada University (FKH-UGM) in Yogyakarta. The event was attended by over 30 participants from government institutions, academicians, and private veterinarians. CIVAS also sent its representative, Riana A. Arief, DVM, whom is also a member of the association. The workshop and congress was started with opening remarks from the General Chairman of AEVI, Prof. Setyawan Budiharta, DVM, MPH, PhD and was officially opened by the Dean of the Veterinary Medicine Faculty, Prof. Dr. Bambang Sumiarto, DVM, SU, MSc.

Starting the first day of the workshop was Anak Agung Gde Putra, DVM, SH, MSc, PhD from Denpasar Disease Investigation Center with a presentation on “The Biodynamics of Rabies Transmission in Bali”. Dr. Agung in his presentation talked about the development of rabies transmission and analysis of rabies cases in dogs and people in Bali.

The workshop was continued with a presentation on “Livestock Management and Animal Health Issues During and After the Eruption of Merapi Mountain” by Prof. Dr. Ida Tjahjati, MP, DVM from the FKH UGM and Yogyakarta Chapter IVMA (Indonesia Veterinary Medical Association) Joint Veterinary Medicine Post for Merapi Eruption Victims, who is also Coordinator of the Livestock Identification Team for Merapi.

In her presentation, Prof. Ida explained about the animal management system and health issues that arose during the eruption. She also outlined the challenges faced and recommendations to improve future operations. Through this opportunity, the workshop plans to develop a Volcano Eruption Emergency Plan from the Livestock and Animal Health Aspect to assist the government in managing animal issues in future incidences.

The first day was ended with a presentation on “Surveillance Data Analysis” by Prof. Dr. Bambang Sumiarto, DVM, SU, MSc from FKH UGM. The professor talked about basic theories for conducting surveillance and how to analyze the data. Other speakers and workshop participants also shared their experiences on field surveillance during this session.

The second day was started with a presentation on “The Application of Statistics in Veterinary Medicine: Measuring Association,” from Dr. Ir. Etih Sudarnika, MSi, from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of the Bogor Agricultural University (FKH-IPB). The session presented a number of statistical tools to test the association between 2 variables according to the type of the data. Interpretation of test results was also explained in the session.

The 2nd National Epidemiology Workshop was ended by a presentation on “Veterinary Public Services and Vet Character Building” from Putut Djoko Purnomo, BSc, DVM, DIVMD. In his presentation, Dr. Putut emphasized on important abilities a modern veterinary epidemiologist must have.

After the workshop, the board of executives and member of AEVI held its 1st Congress. The congress discussed and decided on internal issues of the organization and competence certification. The Indonesian Veterinary Epidemiology Association (AEVI) is a non-territorial organization (ONT) under the Indonesian Veterinary Medical Association (IVMA) that specializes in the field of veterinary epidemiology. (rie)