WOAH hosts a workshop on PROVNA project and Foresight, in the framework of REMESA.

The PROVNA project

In the framework of the Mediterranean Animal Health Network (REMESA), WOAH entrusted the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Abruzzo e del Molise (IZS Teramo), Italy, as WOAH Reference Center for several domains (e.g. as Collaborating Centre: epidemiology, modelling and surveillance; as Reference Laboratory: e.g., West Nile, Bluetongue, Brucellosis, Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia) to implement the Defining Ecoregions and Prototyping an EO-based Vector-borne Disease Surveillance System for North Africa (PROVNA) project in collaboration with the University of Tennessee, in the United States.

PROVNA Project Partners

IZS Teramo (Italy), University of Tennessee (United States)

The overall objective of the project is to support the local competent authorities in North Africa (Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia), for the identification of specific areas on which to carry out entomological/serological surveillance for vector-borne diseases (VBDs).

Specific objectives are:

To define the “ecoregions” in the study area. By identifying these, it will be possible to identify similarly vulnerable territories, on the assumption that similar areas (in space and/or time) are subject to similar diseases (especially vector-borne diseases – VBDs);
To build a customised prototype application, named PROVNA, that considers both static and dynamic variables, to forecast climatic and environmental changes for vector surveillance activities (early warning, identification of hotspot areas, assessment of introduction and persistence), to model for potential vector-borne disease emergence (critical events), and to investigate the evolution of these regions under different climate change scenarios.

The disease selected for the first application is Rift Valley Fever (RVF) for which periodical updates were provided by IZS Teramo colleagues during the meetings of the Joint Permanent Committee (JPC) of REMESA. The PROVNA project started in April 2022 and the so-called “phase 1”, ended in June 2024.

In view of the conclusion of the “phase 1” of the project, while working on the project proposal for a “phase 2” and planning the in-person workshop, the WOAH regional office for north Africa, in collaboration with the PROVNA team, hosted several online meetings with the 6 North African Members (scheduled between April and June 2024)

Two preliminary meetings

1^st – Results of the PROVNA project and discussion on the possible applications of targeted surveillance (15 April 2024).
2^nd – Country presentations on the status of VBDs surveillance and control in North Africa (30 April 2024).

One ad-hoc meeting for each country (3h), including: ecoregion data validation and Q&A session (between May and June 2024).

Objectives of the workshop

The 3 main objectives of the workshop were:

To discuss the results of the “phase 1” of the PROVNA project;
To present the project proposal for the “phase 2” of the PROVNA project for discussion and approval;
To use Foresight methods to discuss the future of animal health surveillance in REMESA member countries.

A half-day session was dedicated to each of the main objectives.

Foresight

Foresight is a toolkit of methodologies for imagining alternative futures to:

Thinking through challenges (policy and decision making);
Honing capacity and capability to anticipate;
Opening up new ideas and new or different pathways;
Challenging mindsets, assumptions about the present and the future;
Working with uncertainty, complexity – what is next AND what if?

Decision-making frameworks such as risk assessment and analysis, epidemiological intelligence, early warning systems monitoring and surveillance are helpful in anticipating and responding to incidents in the animal health domain. Tools like forecasting, disease modelling and simulation exercises assist in the prevention of, preparedness for and response to foreseen incidents in the present and over the subsequent months or years. With foresight methods, users gain a wider and longer-term perspective, thus enhancing their ability to adapt to rapid change and uncertainty.

Building on the experience of the 100th-anniversary participatory foresight project and awaiting the outcomes of the review of WOAH’s Basic Texts at the General Session Forum, entitled “Is WOAH Ready for the Future?”, it has been decided to include a Session on Foresight in the face-to-face workshop on the PROVNA project (back-to-back with 28^th JPC REMESA) to blend PROVNA data and Foresight scenarios, with the aim of discussing what will livestock farming in the REMESA region look like and what sort of animal health surveillance will be required for Transboundary Animal Diseases (TADs) in 2035.

From left to right: Dr Rachid Bouguedour, WOAH Sub-Regional Representation for North Africa, Dr Mohammed Bengoumi, FAO and Dr Susana Pombo, CVO and WOAH Delegate of Portugal, during the opening session of the workshop. Dr Pombo is also the new President of the WOAH World Assembly of Delegates (elected in May 2024)

The training was held in Lisbon, Portugal, from 2 to 3 July 2024 and was attended by 35 participants. Besides WOAH regional (Tunis) and head office staff (Paris), contributions were made by several international experts of the PROVNA team (in order of affiliation): Laura Amato, Luca Candeloro, Annamaria Conte and Carla Ippoliti (IZS Teramo, Italy), Jordi Serra del Pino (Center for Post normal Policy & Future Studies, Spain), as well as Assaf Anyamba and Heidi Tubbs (University of Tennessee, USA).

FAO and STOR-REMESA were also represented.

An interactive approach was adopted for the workshop with plenty of group work and plenary discussion involving the active involvement of participants. Below is the workshop in pictures.