Mongolia is strategically located in central asia sharing a 4,630 KM border with china

The Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service awarded Lifestock, Inc., a cooperative agreement totaling $215,769 on May 8, 2026, under the Plant and Animal Disease, Pest Control, and Animal Care program (CFDA 10.025) to strengthen Mongolia's diagnostic capacity for foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and peste des petits ruminants (PPR) detection.

The project unfolds across three phases. Phase 1 builds and strengthens capacity at regional and aimag-level laboratories to rapidly detect FMD and PPR viruses and to evaluate livestock vaccination efficacy and status. Phase 2 establishes proficiency testing capability at the State Central Veterinary Laboratory, Mongolia's primary reference laboratory, conforming to ISO 17043 standards. Phase 3 genetically characterizes FMD and PPR viruses circulating in Mongolia to clarify strain diversity and disease epidemiology. The work results in enhanced serology testing capacity—ISO-accredited quality testing for FMD and PPR—across Mongolia's state central laboratory and provincial laboratories, and improved transboundary disease surveillance infrastructure.

Mongolia shares a 4,630-kilometer border with China and maintains cross-border livestock movement and trade. The country is endemic to multiple transboundary animal diseases presenting significant threats to U.S. agricultural security and public health. Mongolia's regional laboratories previously lacked capacity to detect and diagnose high-consequence transboundary diseases, severely limiting accurate surveillance intelligence about disease threats in Mongolia and Central Asia.

Performance occurs in Athens, Georgia. The period of performance runs from May 8, 2026, through November 7, 2027.

With the cross-border movement and trade in livestock between the two countries, information on transboundary disease situation in mongolia could provide critical disease intelligence about the disease landscape and risk in china and central asia. Mongolia is also endemic to many transboundary animal diseases (tads) that present significant threat to US agricultural security and public health. Mongolia lacks the capacity at the regional laboratories to detect and diagnose high-consequence transboundary diseases including FMD and PPR. This has severely weakened their capacity to acquire accurate information about threat of transboundary diseases through surveillance. The proposed project will be implemented in 3 phases: phase 1: build and strengthen the capacity of regional/aimag labs to rapidly detect FMD virus and PPR virus, and to evaluate the efficiency and status of livestock vaccination. Especially FMD and PPR; phase 2: build capacity for proficiency testing, focusing on ISO 17043 standard, at the state central veterinary laboratory (scvl) as the country's main reference lab oratory, and phase 3: genetically characterize fmdv and pprv circulating in mongolia to aid understand strain diversity and disease epidemiology. The project will result in enhanced capacity of mongolia state central veterinary laboratory and provincial labs to perform quality serology testing (ISO accredited) for FMD and PPR and improved transboundary disease surveillance.