Second CBPP Standing Group of Experts (SGE) meeting weighs options for strategy development

Dr Charles Maseka, Director of Veterinary Services, CVO and WOAH Delegate. Picture (c) G. H. Bazimo (woah) 2024)

The Standing Group of Experts on Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia (SGE-CBPP) for Africa was set up as a result of the adoption in June 2022 of the terms of reference by the 11^th Regional Steering Committee (RSC-11) of the GF-TADs for Africa, in order to promote regular exchange of information and best practices among concerned national veterinary authorities, international and national experts, and the private sector.

In 2021, CBPP was identified as one of the 5 priority diseases under the GF-TADs Regional Strategy 2021 – 2025, adopted in October 2021. . This led to the establishment of the SGE CBPP for Africa in 2023 which started with a core group of 4 founding Members Countries drawn from Central (Chad), Eastern (Somalia), Southern (Zambia) and Western Africa (Nigeria), with the aim to progressively extend to more countries. The inaugural SGE identified a number of priority topics, to be tackled in subsequent meetings, as intended in the terms of reference of the SGE.

These topics are :

Strategy
Surveillance
Diagnosis
Vaccines
Policy
Research

Hence, the second SGE was planned to discuss control Strategies as follows:

Strategy

Development and validation of strategic plans at various levels of governance (national, clusters of neighbouring countries, sub-regions, the continent and/or the international community, for higher prioritisation of the disease (technically and financially).

· Global strategy (limited to Africa, but enabling all countries worldwide to aim for freedom of disease status);

· Continental strategy (custodian: AU);

· Sub-regional strategies (custodian: REC);

· National strategies (clustering with neighbouring countries, shared borders).

The meeting was attended by 27 participants, including standing members of the SGE and invited Experts and Observers.

The Chief Veterinary Officer/WOAH Delegate of Zambia, Dr Charles Maseka, attended the meeting for the first time and was leading a delegation of 5 more Zambian officials, along with 2 support staff.

Further present at the meeting were representatives of:

Nigeria (VS)
Nigeria (national reference laboratory, NVRI)
Zambia (VS)
Zambia (national reference laboratory, CVRI)
ILRI
FAO (ECTAD, Accra)
FAO (NSAH, Rome)
FAO (IAEA Joint Division, Vienna)
WOAH (Southern Africa, Gaborone)
WOAH (Eastern Africa, Nairobi)
WOAH (PRAPS-2, Bamako)
WOAH (Head Office, Paris)
AU-IBAR
AU-PANVAC (also WOAH/FAO Collaborating Centre)
COMESA Secretariat (Lusaka)
ECCAS (RAHC-CA, N’Djamena)
ECOWAS (RAHC-WA, Bamako)
SADC Secretariat (Gaborone)
Italy (Reference Laboratory, IZS, Teramo)
Botswana (Reference Laboratory, BNVL, Sebele)
Canada (IDRC, Ottawa)

Simultaneous interpretation was available in French and English. 30% of attendants were French-speaking and 37% of attendees were women.

Through a series of technical but also strategy presentations, and break-out session (French and English groups), the meeting was led through the 4 proposed tiers of strategy development :

National
Regional
Continental
International

Technical agencies, reference laboratories, RECs and countries (Members) were invited to share their take on how they could contribute to either or all of the tiers, also taking stock of recent international and regional meetings on CBPP (STAR-IDAZ / CABI / USDA-ARS, Cambridge, 2023 and ERFAN Forum, online, 2024), as well as past experiences and lessons learned from other global initiatives on Rinderpest, PPR, ASF, FMD and Rabies.

Dr Huyam Salih, Director of AU-IBAR and Chair of the GF-TADs for Africa Regional Steering Committee (RSC). Picture (c) G. H. Bazimo (woah) 2024

In the end, after three days of consultations, the meeting resolved and agreed on the following :

Need for (more) national strategic plans in affected, threatened and free countries, with due consideration for the alignment with what happens in surrounding countries;
No pressing need for specific (sub)regional strategic plans (e.g. ECOWAS or IGAD-based), but rather looking at epi-systems approaches targeting economically important trade-sensitive diseases, or value chain approaches across clusters of countries (e.g. PRAPS) and support to the implementation of a continental strategic plan;
Need for Continental (Africa) strategic plan, under the auspices of the African Union, which is regarded as a high priority;
No pressing need for an international (global) strategic plan, but maybe a need for a global research alliance, dedicated to CBPP.

In the coming weeks, considerations and action points will be finetuned and a report prepared and circulated. The next meeting of the SGE will be dedicated to Surveillance.

There is an africanness to this disease, it's part of our heritage

Dr Charles Maseka, WOAH Delegate and CVO, Director of Veterinary Services, Zambia

Download the provisional agenda

Agenda (EN) for the second Meeting of the CBPP SGE for Africa v5

PDF - 329.54KB

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Dr Fusya Goma, Deputy Director of Veterinary Services, Zambia. Picture (c) G. H. Bazimo (woah) 2024

Dr P. Bastiaensen (left) and Dr Moetapele Letshwenyo (right). Picture (c) G. H. Bazimo (woah) 2024

Dr Hassane El-Hadj Adakal, Principal Programme Officer, Veterinary Governance, RAHC for West Africa, ECOWAS. Picture (c) G. H. Bazimo (woah) 2024

Ms. Nomsa Thekiso, WOAH Gaborone. Picture (c) G. H. Bazimo (woah) 2024

Overview of part of the participants. Picture (c) G. H. Bazimo (woah) 2024

Dr Janada Danladi, Veterinary and Pest Control Services/Animal Health Division, Nigeria. Picture (c) G. H. Bazimo (woah) 2024

Dr Mamadou Niang, CBPP Expert, Regional Laboratory Expert, ECTAD, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO, RAF, Accra). Picture (c) G. H. Bazimo (woah) 2024

Dr Yoseph Mamo, COMESA Secretariat. Picture (c) G. H. Bazimo (woah) 2024

Dr Moetapele Letshwenyo, WOAH Sub-Regional Representative for Southern Africa. Picture (c) G. H. Bazimo (woah) 2024

Dr Massimo Scacchia (left) of the WOAH Reference Laboratory for CBPP in Italy (IZS Teramo) and Dr P. Bastiaensen (right), Regional Secretariat of the GF-TADs for Africa. Picture (c) G. H. Bazimo (woah) 2024