The African Union - Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) in line with its mandate and in continuation of the effort started in 2017 to prevent, control and eradicate PPR from the African continent, organized a 4-day write-shop for 16 African Union Member States (AU-MS) to develop their national PPR strategies and 5 year action plans. The write shop was held in Naivasha, Kenya from 04th to 07th April 2018.
In 2017, 21 countries and two Regional Economic Communities (RECs) were supported technically and financially to develop and validate their national PPR strategies and 5 year action plans that were aligned to the global PPR-Global Control and Eradication Strategy (PPR-GCES) and the Pan African Strategy for the Control and Eradication of Peste des Petits Ruminants.
In order to ensure a coordinated and harmonized approach to the control and eradication of PPR in Africa, the objective of the write-shop was to provide support to the remaining 24 African countries to develop and validate their National PPR control and Eradication Strategies and 5 year action plans.
The write shop was attended by 4 representatives from 16 out of the 24 invited Member States. Each national delegation comprised of the Director of Veterinary Services, the Head of Laboratory services, the Head of Epidemiology and one representative from the national research Institute. The following countries participated in the write-shop: Algeria, Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Cape Verde, Guinea, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe, Togo, Tunisia and Zimbabwe.
The methodology adopted for the write-shop enabled the participants to work in country sub-groups with technical support and facilitation provided by AU-IBAR technical staff using the globally agreed templates.
At the end of the write shop, all the countries present had developed a zero draft of their National PPR strategy and 5 year action plan to be finalized and validated at National level with all the key stakeholders.
A way forward was also agreed which focused mainly on deadlines for finalization of the strategies and the 5 year action plans, the organization of national validation workshops and the development of resource mobilization strategies. It is expected that the approved and validated national strategies and 5 year action plans from all the participating countries will be ready by the end of May 2018 in time for the global partners’ Pledging Conference scheduled for September 2018.
Further assistance will also be provided to the remaining countries and RECs to complete the process of the development of their strategies and 5 year action plans accordingly.
The participants appreciated the technical and financial support provided by AU-IBAR, through the EU funded LIVE2Africa Programme that enabled them to reach this important milestone in the control and eradication of PPR and other priority small ruminant diseases in their countries.
