Isabel Lechner and Manon Schuppers travelled to Lviv, Ukraine in May to visit the 4th Lviv Taste Fair. Organized with support of our SECO-funded QFTP project, this Fair offers a unique opportunity for Ukrainian craft cheese producers and organic producers to present their products to local consumers.
As animal disease risks continue to evolve across Europe, effective biosecurity measures are becoming increasingly important throughout the livestock sector. Professionals who move between farms play a particularly important role in preventing the spread of infectious diseases and maintaining animal health.
To support these efforts, SAFOSO designed and delivered a series of hygiene and biosecurity trainings for artificial insemination technicians of Swissgenetics, Switzerland’s largest provider of bovine genetics.
Isabel Lechner, Patrik Buholzer and Manon Schuppers joined a 2-dayworkshop in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in May. The workshop was organized by the National Livestock and Fisheries Development Program (NLFDP) in the framework of our collaboration to reduce the impact of abortion-causing diseases in small ruminants. The workshop concept and methodology were developed by our team, who also facilitated and guided the discussions throughout the event.
In a career spanning more than five decades, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Kihm has been guided by a philosophy that has shaped both his personal choices and his contributions to global animal health: "You have to be open for anything that comes".
Ueli, as he is known to colleagues worldwide, has followed an extraordinary trajectory: from academic researcher to Director of Switzerland's Federal Vaccine Institute, during his time as Chief Veterinary Officer managing the BSE crisis and leadership roles in international organizations, to founding SAFOSO and TAFS Forum, consistently transforming challenges into opportunities for advancing global animal health.
What makes his story compelling is not just the breadth of his contributions, developing disease control capacity across regions, transforming institutional roles, contributing to international disease control standards, and creating platforms for public-private collaboration, but also his willingness to reinvent his career at pivotal moments.
This interview explores the mindset behind these transitions: a commitment to science-based decision-making, a strong belief in building people's capacity, and the conviction that complex animal health challenges can only be addressed through collaboration between public and private sectors. For professionals navigating their own careers and for anyone interested in evidence-based innovation, Ueli's reflections offer both inspiration and grounded insights into building a meaningful and lasting legacy in animal health.
A Swiss-funded project in Georgia is transforming animal traceability by placing farmers at the centre of the system. While developing Georgia's National Animal Identification and Traceability System, the project has introduced a complementary Farm Management System specifically tailored for small and medium-sized dairy farms.
SAFOSO plays a key role in this initiative by providing technical backstopping to the project.
Wednesday morning at 8:30. News about a suspected case of Lumpy Skin Disease on a Swiss dairy farm begins to circulate. While this may sound like the start of a real outbreak, it was in fact the starting point of a full-day simulation exercise we conducted together with Swissgenetics, the largest genetics provider in Switzerland.
With increasing animal disease pressure across Europe, crisis preparedness is becoming ever more important. The exercise was designed to test response capabilities under pressure, evaluate decision-making processes, and identify potential gaps in coordination and communication before a real crisis occurs.
Transboundary animal diseases (TADs) are spreading more widely and rapidly, reaching regions that have been free of them for decades. In this context, we would like to share our reflections on some of the most significant developments of 2025, offering insights into the global challenges faced over the past year. These events under score the urgent need for rapid emergency responses and the importance of strengthening resilience in livestock systems.
We participated in the first edition of the VETTECH Conference, held in the first week of December in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This important regional event focused on the future of veterinary biotechnology, exploring how technological innovation can be leveraged to address key One Health–related challenges.
In November, we had the pleasure of delivering a Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) workshop for the Cantonal Veterinary Office in Bern, Switzerland (AVET Bern), as part of their continuing education day. The workshop brought together the latest scientific insights with practical aspects relevant to Swiss veterinary services, offering a valuable space for discussion and exchange.
SAFOSO supported the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) in designing a framework to allow WOAH to develop an advocacy strategy targeting high-level decision-makers. The purpose of this advocacy strategy is to enable WOAH to better showcase the value of WOAH membership through enhanced tailored advocacy actions.
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