Inaugural ASF Standing Group of Experts (SGE) meeting agrees on 24 months' work programme

From the OIE Delegates, attending as observers and possible future Members were : Ana Lina Pereira (Cabo Verde) and Drissa Coulibaly (Mali). Also in attendance were ASF subject-matter experts, AU-IBAR, AU-PANVAC, ECOWAS (RAHC), FAO and OIE.

The inaugural meeting was opened by Dr Nick Nwankpa, acting Director of AU-IBAR and Director of AU-PANVAC (and Chair of the GF-TADs for Africa Regional Steering Committee), Dr Karim Tounkara, OIE Representative Regional Representation for Africa, Secretary of the GF-TADs for Africa (Regional Steering Committee) and Dr Charles Bebay, Vice-President of the GF-TADs for Africa RSC, Regional Manager ECTAD East Africa of the FAO, all of whom delivered remarks highlighting the need for closer collaboration between member countries and that this Standing Group of Experts could serve as model for all the other TADs programmes in the region.

The meeting began with an introduction of the terms of reference of the SGE by Dr Patrick Bastiaensen, on behlf of the Secretary of the GF-TADs for Africa, followed by a presentation on the Global Initiative for African swine fever and its activities by Dr Andriy Rozstalnyy, Co-Chair of the GF-TADs ASF Working Group (FAO).

Dr Paolo Tizzani of the OIE World Animal Health Information and Analysis Department (WAHIAD) presented an overview of the global distribution of ASF and trends, based on OIE-WAHIS reporting. Most of the founding member countries presented an overview of the ASF situation within their respective countries as follows :

1. Cameroon, Dr Jean-Marc Feussom
2. Côte d’Ivoire, Dr Douyeri Thierry Ouattara
3. Democratic Republic of Congo, Dr Florent Ngamuna
4. Kenya, Dr Sam Kahariri
5. Nigeria, Dr Maimuna Habib (new OIE Delegate of Nigeria)
6. South Africa, Dr Livio Heath
7. Uganda, Dr Paul Lumu

Dr Sharon Tsigadi of Farmer’s Choice Ltd in Kenya shared the private sector perspective and feedback on the draft work plan while Dr Livio Heath, Designated Expert of the OIE ASF Reference Laboratory at the Onderstepoort facility in South Africa presented the diagnostic challenges with regards to ASF. The meeting ended with two presentations of the relevant ASF portals on the global and regional GF-TADs websites

Considering:

1. The revised African Union Regional strategy for the control of African swine fever in Africa (AU-IBAR, FAO, ILRI)
2. That strict biosecurity is important for the control of ASF, Founding Member Countries of the SGE are urged to work with key private and public sector entities to enhance biosecurity and implement this along the value chain;
3. That control of ASF will be facilitated with the development of safe and efficacious vaccines, research institutions and the pharmaceutical industry are urged to prioritise the development of such vaccine(s) in their short- to mid-term R&D strategies;
4. That national Reference Laboratories in Founding Member Countries of the SGE are encouraged to interact and where possible to join the regional laboratory network for ASF in Southern Africa, initiated by the OIE Reference Laboratory at ARC-OVR in Onderstepoort, South Africa;

…the following technical items or topics were identified (in order of priority and logic/sequence of implementation) with comments (where appropriate) on possible secondary items or topics, some of which apply to several identified topics:

Regarding the frequency and hosting of upcoming meetings, it was clarified that :

1. Every upcoming meeting will only deal with one of the 8 above-mentioned topics;
2. Subject to availability of funds and the easing of Coronavirus related travel restrictions, face to face meetings will be progressively encouraged;
3. Founding Member Countries will be invited to host on a rotational basis (and chair the meeting). The representative of Cameroon will enquire whether it is feasible to host the first face-to-face session of the SGE later this year;
4. The next SGE meeting (2) will be online and will address a topic that can best be presented through an online format;
5. The frequency of SGE ASF meetings hasn’t been detailed, but 8 topics to be addressed in the next 24 months at most, represents a frequency of 3 months between sessions.

Furthermore, a dedicated SGE page has been opened of the GF-TADs for Africa website in order to facilitate the sharing of information : African Swine Fever – Standing Group of Experts (SGE) – OIE – Africa