Members of the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) appoint National Focal Points for Communication since 2011 to support National Delegates, act as WOAH contact point on communication issues for the Veterinary Services and strengthen national communication capacity (WOAH, Terms of reference of National communication focal points). The last in-person regional trainings dedicated to these focal points in Africa ran in 2016 (Cycle I, English and French, Mombasa, Kenya) and 2018 (Cycle II, English and French, Tunis, Tunisia).
Misinformation and disinformation now reach Veterinary Services and Aquatic Animal Health Services directly during animal health emergencies. Overflow of information, including false claims about disease spread, vaccination, and product safety, undermines control measures and erodes trust. WHO defines this overflow of varying-quality information during an acute health event as an infodemic (Purnat, Nguyen, and Briand, 2023).
The WOAH-INTERPOL guidelines Countering Disinformation and Misinformation in Animal Health Emergencies set out a Prepare-Detect-Respond structure, the truth-sandwich debunking method, social listening, and pre-bunking (WOAH and INTERPOL, 2024). The WOAH-WHO Communication Handbook for Veterinary Services provides the risk-communication foundation.
This third cycle capacity-building event builds the national communication capacities of WOAH Focal Points for Communication in Africa in risk communication, community engagement, and infodemic management, and equips them to support their Delegates during animal health emergencies.
Specific objectives
The face-to-face event in January 2027 will be preceded by e-Learning and two webinars in December 2026.
This event is organised by invitation only for selected national focal points and regional and international partner organisations. No registration links will be made available on this website;
For more information, please contact [email protected] in Nairobi.
