An intergovernmental organization, FAO has 191 Member Nations, two associate members and one member organization, the European Union. FAO is present in over 130 countries. FAO employs 1 835 professional staff and 1 856 support staff.

Achieving food security for all is at the heart of FAO’s efforts. FAO’s mandate is to raise levels of nutrition, improve agricultural productivity, better the lives of rural populations and contribute to the growth of the world economy. FAO’s Animal Production and Health Division (AGA) strives to assist Member countries to take full advantage of the contribution the rapidly growing and transforming livestock sector can make towards achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly MDGs 1 and 7, namely to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and to ensure environmental sustainability.

To this end, AGA endeavors to facilitate the participation of smallholder livestock farmers, particularly in developing countries, in the increasingly competitive market for livestock commodities, to safeguard animal and veterinary public health, to maintain animal genetic diversity, and to minimize the environmental impact of livestock production.

The Emergency Prevention Systems (EMPRES) Animal Health has the mandate to address prevention and early warning across the entire animal food chain. Protection against animal diseases and pests and against food safety threats and preventing their spread is one of the keys to fighting hunger, malnutrition and poverty. The mission of the EMPRES is to promote the effective containment and control of the most serious epidemic pests and diseases and food safety threats through international cooperation involving early warning, early reaction, enabling research, and coordination.