Third ASF standing group of experts meeting tackles biosecurity and surveillance

Also present was the Onderstepoort Veterinary Research Institute (OVRI, ARC), both a WOAH Reference Laboratory for ASF, WOAH Collaborating Centre and FAO Reference Centre for ASF (South Africa), along with experts from research centres and academic institutions in Belgium (UG), Cote d’Ivoire (LIRED), France (CIRAD), Hong-Kong (CityU) and Tanzania (SUA). Only one Regional Economic Community (REC) attended the meeting (online) the Inter-Governmental Authority of Development (IGAD, covering the Horn of Africa) through the IGAD Centre for Pastoral Areas and Livestock Development (ICPALD). In addition, the meeting was attended by Mali as an observer country (interested future member), along with observers from the GF-TADs for Europe (European Commission, DG-SANTE). Overall, the meeting was attended by 50 participants, 10 of whom attended online. Only 15 percent (15 %) of participants was female.

Dr Andriy Rozstalnyy, Member of the GF-TADs ASF Global Working Group on behalf of FAO, and representing the Vice-President of the Regional Steering Committee, reiterated the support FAO is providing to Member countries to control ASF and welcomed all participants to the meeting.

Action Points

Biosecurity

1. Members to conduct awareness raising and training for stakeholders along the value chain on biosecurity for ASF, with the support of FAO, WOAH, AU and development partners;
2. Member countries to improve on the enforcement of existing regulations to apply biosecurity and surveillance activities for ASF, such as working with relevant governmental authorities and the private sector;
3. Members to explore compartmentalisation as a means to provide business continuity for commercial farms (sector 1), leveraging private-public partnerships to provide the necessary support;
4. Members to consider biosecurity through an integrated approach addressing not just ASF but other priority swine diseases (e.g. porcine cysticercosis) to optimize the use of limited resources;
5. Members to consider FAO and WOAH guidelines regarding animal feed production and supply chain, and inactivation of ASFV in swill to limit and prevent the spread of the virus;
6. FAO and WOAH to update guidelines and standards on animal feed production and processing (including swill) based on the latest scientific evidence;
7. Member countries to exchange and collaborate with other countries in the application of biosecurity and surveillance in resource-limited settings with the support of FAO, WOAH, AU-IBAR and development partners;
8. FAO to invite SGE Members and other stakeholders to participate in the Community of Practice (CoP) for the Progressive Management Pathway (PMP) for Terrestrial Animal Biosecurity (TAB).

Surveillance

1. Member countries to prioritize the use of participatory approaches and community-based self-governance or self-regulation practices to incentivize the adoption of good biosecurity practices and surveillance to control the spread of ASF in resource-limited settings;
2. FAO, WOAH, AU-IBAR and development partners to strengthen the use of social sciences and economic analyses to support members implement technically sound and feasible ASF control programmes;
3. Member countries to improve capacity for ASF diagnostics, including genomic sequencing and the use of Point of Care (PoC) tests in the field for rapid ASF testing and participation in Reference Lab networks, including through WOAH twinning programmes;
4. FAO/IAEA and WOAH Reference Laboratories and networks involving ASF, to provide guidance and facilitate access to diagnostic methods for ASF;
5. Member countries are reminded of their obligation to report the occurrence (absence, presence) of ASF through WAHIS, including submission of data on wildlife;
6. Given the resource constraints in conducting surveillance in domestic pigs, members to consider the use of proxy surveillance approaches to indirectly gather additional information on the ASF situation.

Governance

1. AU-IBAR to initiate procedure for endorsement of the regional African swine fever (ASF) control strategy.

In the end, the meeting agreed on 15  action points, eventually to be circulated to all Member Countries, and also agreed to refer the co-opting of both Cabo Verde and Mali to the SGE Members, to the vote of the next GF-TADs for Africa Regional Steering Committee (RSC). The principle of embedding a session on “vaccines and vaccination” into the (next) session (n° 5) on “outbreak management” was also approved and requires no validation by the RSC.