The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) Sub-Regional Representation for North Africa was established in 2009 and inaugurated in January 2010. Activities of the Sub-Regional Representation fall within the WOAH Strategic Plan. These include the following activities:
- to assist North African member countries:
– To comply with international standards in the field of animal health and animal welfare, including the WTO SPS Agreement.
– To improve governance and Performance of Veterinary Services;
- to provide technical support to Member Countries in the North-African region and policy advice in the field of animal health and animal welfare to strengthen veterinary services involvement in animal health, veterinary public health and animal welfare policy design and governance;
- To develop and implement capacity-building programs (training, seminars) for national veterinary services of Member Countries in the North-African region through support to WOAH Delegates and National Focal Points;
- To provide, in collaboration with the FAO office for North Africa, the Secretariat of the Mediterranean Animal Health Network (REMESA) which involves countries of the southern and the northern shore of the Mediterranean with the aim to coordinate and develop regional animal health actions;
- To monitor and coordinate the activities of the Scientific and Technical Office of REMESA (STOR);
- To support member countries in the North-Africa region in their efforts to develop their official disease status and official control programme dossiers for endorsement by WOAH;
- To develop the use of the concept of WOAH twinning in the North-African region and support the recognition of new WOAH reference centers (Reference Laboratories and Collaborating Centers) while encouraging the networking of scientists in the region;
- Tp promote transparency on sanitary information in the North-African region through maintaining and updating formal and informal animal health information:
- To support initiatives promoting the veterinary profession (Veterinary associations that focus on technical issues as “GTV”, for example) and animal health and welfare (World Veterinary Day and World Rabies Day for example);
- To promote the “One Health” concept, supporting Member Countries in the North-African region to improve multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary collaboration, in coordination with the Quadripartite partners (FAO, UNEP, WHO and WOAH).
