RABIES
Contributing to the elimination of dog-mediated human rabies deaths in Africa
September 28, 2019
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Training on rabies laboratory diagnosis at OVI/ARC. Picture (c) C. Sabeta (ARC) 2009.
1 January 2021 is the kick-off date for a new laboratory twinning agreement on the standard diagnosis of rabies which will last for 2 years, with an estimated budget of EUR 100,000. It links the OIE Reference Laboratory for rabies at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Research (OVR) institute in Pretoria, South Africa (parent lab) to the National Animal Health Diagnosis and Investigation Center (NAHDIC) in Sebeta, Ethiopia (candidate lab).
NAHDIC head office in Sebeta, Ethiopia. Picture (c) Cambridge Africa (2020).
The experts involved on both sides are Dr Claude Sabeta and Dr Redeat Belaineh respectively. This new twinning agreement follows an earlier agreement in which OVR was the parent lab, i.e. with the NVRI in Vom, Nigeria (completed in 2012).
The agreement with NAHDIC will focus on the transfer of skills on OIE recommended diagnostic tools and techniques, such as the direct fluorescent antibody test (FAT), the direct rapid immunohistochemical test (dRIT), rabies tissue culture infection test and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique.
The Onderstepoort Veterinary Research (OVR) head office in Pretoria, South Africa. Picture (c) V. Brioudes (oie) 2010.
The current agreement is funded as part of the implementation of the Project for the Prevention and Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases for the benefit of smallholder farmers (PC-TAD) funded by the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the OIE in Nairobi, targeting selected countries in Eastern Africa.
