In March, Animal Health Committee (AHC) held its first face-to-face meeting for 2025 in Sydney (AHC47).
AHC delivers strategic policy, technical and regulatory advice, and national leadership on animal health and biosecurity matters. It is responsible for delivering on national priority reform areas in relation to animal health and overseeing the development and implementation of animal health strategies and standards. AHC is a sub-committee of the National Biosecurity Committee (NBC). AHC’s strategic priorities are to improve Australia’s emergency animal disease preparedness and response capacity and to improve Australia’s animal health surveillance, diagnostic and data capabilities.
AHC is co-chaired by Australia’s Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO), Dr Beth Cookson, and an annually rotating jurisdictional co-chair. The Victorian CVO, Dr Graeme Cooke, is the jurisdictional co-chair for 2025. Other members include Chief Veterinary Officers from each state and territory, the Director of the CSIRO Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. The committee also includes observers from Animal Health Australia, Wildlife Health Australia and the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries.
At its meeting in March, AHC discussed activities planned and underway to enhance Australia’s preparedness for high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI), which continues to be a high priority for AHC. Australia remains the only continent free from the H5 strain of HPAI, which is causing widespread outbreaks and death of poultry, wild birds and mammals globally. Discussions at AHC47 included considerations relating to vaccination of avian species for both emergency use and prevention within the Australian context and national response planning for a potential outbreak involving wildlife.
AHC also discussed the responses to the current and recent outbreaks of H7 HPAI in Australia, with a focus on identifying areas for improvement and how these could be incorporated into future responses. Learning from the experiences from outbreaks overseas was also another important area of focus for AHC, including hearing from New Zealand about its H7 HPAI outbreak which was detected in late 2024.
Animal Health Committee provides an important mechanism to achieve a coordinated national approach to disease prevention, preparedness, and response—ensuring that our nation remains prepared and resilient in the face of future threats.
