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24th Conference of the Regional Commission for Africa (online)

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The 24th Conference of the Regional Commission for Africa takes place in the virtual space, with high numbers of Member Countries participating, along with multiple regional and international stakeholders with an interest in animal health and welfare in Africa.

More than 150 participants took part in the 24th Conference of the OIE Regional Commission for Africa, which took place from 9 to 11th of February 2021 in the meanwhile popular Kingdom of Zoom.

The Conference, attended by 52 out of the 54 OIE Member Countries on the continent, was chaired by Dr. Honoré Nlemba Mabela, OIE Delegate of the Democratic Republic of Congo and President of the OIE Regional Commission for Africa, along with Dr. Botlhe Michael Modisane, OIE Delegate of the Republic of South Africa and immediate past-President of the OIE World Assembly of Delegates and the OIE Council.

The inaugural session was officiated by the President of the OIE Regional Commission for Africa, along with Dr. Mark Schipp, OIE Delegate of Australia, and President of the OIE Council and of the World Assembly of OIE Delegates,  as well as Dr Monique Eloit, OIE Director General.

Hon. Mrs. Angela Thokozile Didiza, Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. Picture (c) gov.za

Opening statements were delievered by the representative of H.E. Mrs Josefa Sacko, African Union Commissioner for Rural Economy and Agriculture, as well as the Ministers in charge of animal health and welfare from Madagascar and the Republic of South Africa, the Hon. Mr. Fanomezantsoa Lucien Ranarivelo, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (download the speech in French); and the Hon. Mrs. Angela Thokozile Didiza, Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development respectively (download the speech in English).

Knowing very well that the pandemic we are experiencing now may be categorized as a human health problem, the world needs all available expertise including the veterinary expertise to help bring the pandemic situation under control…

Angela Thokozile Didiza, Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development of South Africa

Dr. Monique Eloit, OIE Director General. Picture (c) oie (2021)

The OIE Director-General, in her opening address, thanked Minister Didiza for her presence and as spiritual patron of the Conference, as the Conference had initially been planned to be hosted in the Republic of South Africa. She also had a word of thanks to outgoing immediate-past President of the OIE, Dr Botlhe Michael Modisane, OIE Delegate of South Africa, with whom she worked closely in the implementation of the 6th Strategic Plan during his tenure as President of the OIE World Assembly and OIE Council from 2015 to 2018. In her speech she emphasised the challenges but also opportunities of operating in a digital environment and announced that the next General Session would also be held online.

…The COVID-19 crisis highlighted once again the need of more scientific expertise, in particular for assessing risks at the human/animal/environment interface as well as the importance of operational partnerships. In addition, the need of exchanging more data, and more sophisticated data with more partners, as well as the new modalities of working (i.e. teleworking for the staff and virtual meetings with you) reinforce the relevance of our engagement in a digital transformation of the Organisation...

Dr Monique Eloit, OIE Director General

The 52 African countries represented at the Conference were

  • Algeria,
  • Angola,
  • Benin,
  • Botswana,
  • Burkina Faso,
  • Burundi,
  • Cabo Verde,
  • Cameroon,
  • Central African Republic,
  • Chad,
  • Comoros,
  • Congo (Dem. Rep.),
  • Congo (Rep.),
  • Côte d’Ivoire,
  • Djibouti,
  • Egypt,
  • Equatorial Guinea,
  • Eritrea,
  • Eswatini,
  • Ethiopia,
  • Gabon,
  • Gambia,
  • Ghana,
  • Guinea,
  • Guinea-Bissau,
  • Kenya,

 

  • Lesotho,
  • Liberia,
  • Libya,
  • Madagascar,
  • Malawi,
  • Mali,
  • Mauritania,
  • Mauritius,
  • Morocco,
  • Mozambique,
  • Namibia,
  • Niger,
  • Nigeria,
  • Rwanda,
  • São Tomé and Príncipe,
  • Senegal,
  • Seychelles,
  • Sierra Leone,
  • South Africa,
  • Sudan,
  • Tanzania,
  • Togo,
  • Tunisia,
  • Uganda,
  • Zambia and
  • Zimbabwe.

Moreover, several international and regional organisations, donor agencies and other observers participated in the Conference (in alphabetical order) :

  • Radboud University, Utrecht
  • ReACT Africa
  • the African Small Companion Animal Network (AFSCAN) WSAVA Foundation
  • the African Union (AU) Centres for Disease Control and prevention (Africa-CDC),
  • the African Union (AU) Interafrican Bureau for Animal Resources (IBAR),
  • the African Union (AU) Pan-African Veterinary Vaccines Centre (PANVAC),
  • the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the Regional Animal Health Centre
  • the European Commission (DG SANTE)
  • the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Office for Africa (RAF)
  • the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC)
  • the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)
  • the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
  • the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI),
  • the Livestock Vaccines Innovation Fund (LVIF) IDRC,
  • the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe),

 

 

 

  • the Republic of France, through the French Development Agency (AFD),
  • the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
  • the United Kingdom, through the Fleming Fund (Mott McDonald)
  • the US Government through the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the US Agency for International Development (USAID),
  • Vétérinaires Sans Frontières (VSF – Italy), Niger programme,
  • the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) and
  • the World Health Organisation (WHO), Regional Office for Africa (AFRO)

 

 

Represented at the meeting were also esteemed members of various OIE decision-making and scientific advisory bodies, such as Members of the OIE Council and Specialist Commissions, as well as representatives and designated experts of the various OIE Collaborating Centres and Reference Laboratories in Africa, as well as OIE staff from the Paris head office and other regional representations in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia and the Pacific.

In Ghana, veterinary laboratories actively support COVID-19 testing of human samples. Picture (c) Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) 2020

The first day’s technical session was introduced by an elaborate presentation of the OIE Director General on the challenges facing the OIE in the development and implementation of the 7th OIE Strategic Plan in the post-pandemic world of COVID-19, followed by other presentations on the subject of COVID-19, highlighting challenges faced and opportunities seized by a selection of Veterinary Services of Member Countries (South Africa, Ghana and Botswana) in the fight against COVID-19, to conclude with a presentation on OIE strategy to reduce risk and future disease-spill over events (the OIE wildlife health management framework).

Cattle roaming the streets in Gaborone’s Central Business District (Botswana) during lockdown. PIcture (c) MoA (BW) 2020.

 

The session on day 2 was dedicated to various technical topics dealing with the ongoing global control, elimination and eradication programmes, starting with an overview of the animal health situation on the African continent, based on WAHIS data over the past two years, since the last Regional Conference held in Tunisia in 2019, with special attention for Foot and Mouth disease, African Swine Fever, Peste des Petits Ruminants and SARS-CoV-2 (in animals).

Thereafter, several other continental issues involving or affecting all or part of the Member Countries of the region were presented and discussed:

  •   The situation of Rabies in Africa
  •   The situation of AMR in Africa
  •   The situation of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) in Africa

Along with presentations on the upcoming Aquatic Animal Health Strategy (Standards Department and Aquatic Animal Health Standards Commission) and the Veterinary Workforce development (OIE Bamako and Nairobi offices), updates were provided on the Africa chapter of the Global Framework for the progressive control of Transboundary Animal Diseases (GF-TADs for Africa) by the Secretariat.

The Technical Item initially developed for the 2020 General Session (ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 crisis) was presented on day 3, during a closed session of OIE Delegates only (Required competencies of Veterinary Services in the context of international trade: opportunities and challenges), followed by several discussions on statutory matters related to the elections to be held at the first-ever digital and virtual OIE General Session, to be held from 24 – 28 May 2021.

The next (25th) Regional Conference will likely take place in Botswana, in February 2023.

Report

2021 Online 24
2021 Online 24

PDF - 953.33KB

Ministerial opening addresses

Ministerial address (Madagascar) French  I  Français
Ministerial address (Madagascar) French I Français

PDF - 564.21KB

Ministerial address (South Africa) English   I   Anglais
Ministerial address (South Africa) English I Anglais

PDF - 147.14KB

Download the presentations:

11. Veterinary Services as essential services amidst a lockdown : South Africa (English  I   Anglais)
11. Veterinary Services as essential services amidst a lockdown : South Africa (English I Anglais)

PDF - 315.23KB

13. Impact of the crisis on animal disease surveillance and reporting, etc : Botswana (English  I   Anglais)
13. Impact of the crisis on animal disease surveillance and reporting, etc : Botswana (English I Anglais)

PDF - 515.47KB

16. Wildlife health management and update on the EBO-SURSY, Stratégie de l'OIE pour réduire les risques et les futurs cas de propagation de la maladie (gestion de la santé de la faune sauvage) et mise à jour sur le projet EBO-SURSY (French  I   Français)
16. Wildlife health management and update on the EBO-SURSY, Stratégie de l'OIE pour réduire les risques et les futurs cas de propagation de la maladie (gestion de la santé de la faune sauvage) et mise à jour sur le projet EBO-SURSY (French I Français)

PDF - 1,014.22KB

18a. Animal disease situation in Africa (English  I   Anglais)
18a. Animal disease situation in Africa (English I Anglais)

PDF - 1.97MB

18b. The new OIE-WAHIS system, to be launched shortly (English  I   Anglais)
18b. The new OIE-WAHIS system, to be launched shortly (English I Anglais)

PDF - 697.30KB

20. OIE Activities on rabies in Africa (English  I   Anglais)
20. OIE Activities on rabies in Africa (English I Anglais)

PDF - 979.27KB

21. WHO Activities on rabies in Africa (English  I   Anglais)
21. WHO Activities on rabies in Africa (English I Anglais)

PDF - 1.63MB

22. FAO Activities on rabies in Africa, Activités de la FAO sur la rage en Afrique (French  I   Français)
22. FAO Activities on rabies in Africa, Activités de la FAO sur la rage en Afrique (French I Français)

PDF - 1,005.99KB

23. GARC Activities on rabies in Africa (PARaCoN) (English  I   Anglais)
23. GARC Activities on rabies in Africa (PARaCoN) (English I Anglais)

PDF - 972.38KB

25. Progress in developing and implementing AMR National Action Plans in Africa (English  I   Anglais)
25. Progress in developing and implementing AMR National Action Plans in Africa (English I Anglais)

PDF - 661.30KB

26. The Tripartite (+) partnership to combat AMR (English  I   Anglais)
26. The Tripartite (+) partnership to combat AMR (English I Anglais)

PDF - 544.19KB

27. Update on AMR work conducted under the Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement (REDISSE) Project, Mise à jour des travaux sur la RAM menés dans le cadre du projet Renforcement Régional des Systèmes de Surveillance des Maladies (REDISSE) (French  I   Français)
27. Update on AMR work conducted under the Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement (REDISSE) Project, Mise à jour des travaux sur la RAM menés dans le cadre du projet Renforcement Régional des Systèmes de Surveillance des Maladies (REDISSE) (French I Français)

PDF - 397.45KB

30. OIE Strategy for Aquatic Animal Health (English  I   Anglais)
30. OIE Strategy for Aquatic Animal Health (English I Anglais)

PDF - 937.46KB

31. OIE-Sub Regional workhsop on AMR in Aquaculture_Durban Meeting Recommendations (English  I   Anglais)
31. OIE-Sub Regional workhsop on AMR in Aquaculture_Durban Meeting Recommendations (English I Anglais)

PDF - 1.54MB

33. PPR - Global (English  I   Anglais)
33. PPR - Global (English I Anglais)

PDF - 1.54MB

34. PPR - Eastern Africa (English  I   Anglais)
34. PPR - Eastern Africa (English I Anglais)

PDF - 437.93KB

35. PPR - West and Central Africa, Afrique de l’ouest et du centre (French  I   Français)
35. PPR - West and Central Africa, Afrique de l’ouest et du centre (French I Français)

PDF - 582.53KB

36. PPR - Northern Africa, Afrique du nord (French  I   Français)
36. PPR - Northern Africa, Afrique du nord (French I Français)

PDF - 728.97KB

38. Veterinary Workforce Development, Développement de la main-d’oeuvre vétérinaire (French  I   Français)
38. Veterinary Workforce Development, Développement de la main-d’oeuvre vétérinaire (French I Français)

PDF - 692.09KB

WAHIS Animal Disease Report Africa

ANALYSIS OF THE ANIMAL HEALTH SITUATION IN MEMBERS IN THE REGION DURING 2019 AND 2020 (AFRICA) English   I    Anglais
ANALYSIS OF THE ANIMAL HEALTH SITUATION IN MEMBERS IN THE REGION DURING 2019 AND 2020 (AFRICA) English I Anglais

PDF - 953.33KB

Past Regional Conferences

More information

Abdou Ceesay
Hammamet, Tunisia

23rd Conference of the Regional Commission (Hammamet)

March 01, 2019
Read more
Swakopmund, Namibia

22nd Conference of the Regional Commission (Swakopmund)

February 24, 2017
Read more
Rabat, Morocco

21st Conference of the Regional Commission (Rabat)

February 20, 2015
Read more
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