New brucellosis laboratory improves Mongolia’s diagnostic capacity
Press releases,
07.09.2015
A Livestock Reference Laboratory for Brucellosis opened at the Mongolian State Central Veterinary Laboratory on September 3, 2015 will improve the country’s capacity to diagnose the disease in animals in line with international standards.
“We are now able to diagnose livestock brucellosis at world standards” said State Central Veterinary Laboratory Director Ch. Ganzorig.
“This means we are making a step forward in improving food security for consumers and are safeguarding public health issues.”
The MNT 200 million (CHF 100,000) laboratory was backed with international expertise and trainings for laboratory staff.
“We received numerous trainings by international experts on using the cutting-edge technologies and equipment in brucellosis diagnosis thanks to support from the Swiss-funded Animal Health Project,” said bacteriologist J. Munkhgerel.
Ms Munkhgerel said the state-of-art diagnosis of brucellosis would help to improve the national brucellosis control strategy. “It will also help to eliminate human brucellosis in the future.”
SDC in Mongolia’s Head of Programme Daniel Valenghi said: “It is a part of the technical assistance from the Swiss Government to Mongolia in reforming the veterinary sector. With the collaboration in improving Mongolia’s diagnostic system, we envision a dramatic drop in the incidence of human brucellosis, which is currently about five percent of the entire population.”
Mongolia is keen to learn from the Swiss form of direct democracy in its governance and decentralisation reform. Championed by its President, Ts. Elbegdorj, the Mongolian government has made significant advancements in introducing instruments of direct democracy through decentralisation and increased citizen participation in decision-making processes.
Mongolian citizens are increasingly taking part in public discussions
One of these advancements has been the introduction of the Local Development Fund (LDF) - a pool of state funds that enables Mongolian citizens to participate in identifying priorities for public investment. People are more aware of, and are largely satisfied with, the LDF and its investment in priority areas that have been identified by local communities.
“When we speak to local people, we are repeatedly told that an official sitting in Ulaanbaatar doesn’t know as well as the local population what is needed in local areas, for example for a school or a hospital”, said Diepak Elmer, SDC in Mongolia Deputy Director of Cooperation.
The Office of the President, a pioneer in the implementation of direct democracy in Mongolia, together with Mongolian civil society organisations, is willing to go beyond consultation and establish citizen participation as a right of citizens and a duty of local governments. The model of the 200-year-old popular referendum in Switzerland is being used as a point of reference.
Two Swiss experts from the Centre for Democracy Studies in Aarau travelled to Mongolia in January on a week-long advisory mission. Together with Mongolian legal experts and civil society democratic leaders, they analysed how to legally formulate a referendum mechanism that would work for both citizens and local governments. They also explored its inclusion in a draft of the Law on Public Participation.
At a public discussion in January focused on how direct democracy can be incorporated into a representative democracy, Professor Auer from the Institute of Democracy Studies in Switzerland shared the Swiss experience and examples of how representative and direct democracies can complement one another.
Professor Auer highlighted that direct democracy was not unknown to the Mongolians, referring to the Article 3 of the Constitution of Mongolia. He said the direct participation of citizens in state affairs as a way of exercising state power was mentioned before the representative system.
SDC’s Governance and Decentralisation Programme is supporting the drafting of the Law on Public Participation, which it is hoped will be passed by the Parliament in 2015.
On request from Mongolian authorities, SDC funded a documentary film that captured Mongolia’s direct democracy practices and experiences. Directed by internationally awarded film director S. Byamba, the film focused on the introduction of decentralisation and citizen participation in decision-making in Mongolia.
