Opening ceremony: Opening speech by His Excellency, the Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries of Tunisia, Mr Saâd Seddik. (In the background, from the left to the right: Dr Rachid Bouguedour, OIE Sub-Regional Representative for North Africa – Dr Paula Caceres, Head of the OIE World Animal Health Information and Analysis Department – Dr Malek Zrelli, Chief Veterinary Officer of Tunisia).
The OIE organised in Tunis (Tunisia) – from 12 to 14 July 2016 – the Regional Workshop for Advanced Training on the World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS) for National Focal Points for Animal Disease Notification to the OIE.
The OIE continuously implements programmes of capacity building for OIE Delegates and OIE National Focal Points to provide good governance concepts for improving animal health, animal welfare and food safety of animal origin products at national, regional and international level.
The overall aim of this Workshop was to strengthen the participating countries’ capacities on animal diseases notification through training of their National Focal Points to be able to report animal diseases information through WAHIS. This training aimed to provide participants with – among others – information on the roles and responsibilities of Veterinary Services concerning disease notification, train on the use of WAHIS through presentations and practical exercises based on real-life practical scenarios. The format of this training also included exercises and group sessions covering the creation of the different types of reports, verification of the information and identification of the most common mistakes. This allowed for the participants to better understand the different aspects of the OIE`s notification procedure and share their experiences hence strengthening their network.
This 3-days workshop was attended by 25 participants coming from 23 countries. The workshop was officially opened by His Excellency, the Minister of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries of Tunisia, Mr Saâd Seddik along with the Chief Veterinary Officer of Tunisia, Dr Malek Zrelli and the OIE Sub-Regional Representative for North Africa, Dr Rachid Bouguedour. The workshop was driven and animated by a delegation coming from OIE Headquarters based in Paris leaded by the Head of the OIE World Animal Health Information and Analysis Department, Dr Paula Caceres