Inter-RECs Meeting on Coordination and Mainstreaming of PPR

Starts 2024/04/21 at 8:00 AM CAT
Ends 2024/04/22 at 5:00 PM CAT
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Added by Fahim Kremeier

@ Morocco

In April 2015, the FAO and WOAH International Conference for the Control and Eradication of Peste des Petits Ruminants, held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, approved the PPR Global Control and Eradication Strategy (PPR GCES), with the aim of achieving PPR global eradication by 2030. The PPR GCES was operationalized through the first five-year PPR Global Eradication Programme (PPR GEP) (2017-2021) which laid the foundation for implementing the strategy and is coordinated at the global level by the Joint FAO-WOAH PPR Global Secretariat. The progress made, lessons learnt, and experience of partners in the first five years of the operational phase was reviewed and informed the development of the operational guide, (the Blueprint for PPR eradication by 2030, or PPR GEP II and III) which was launched on 4th November 2022.

The African Union Commission has made PPR eradication a priority policy issue, as outlined in the Pan-African Strategy for the Eradication of PPR and the Control of Other Priority Small Ruminant Diseases, as well as in the Pan-African Programme for the Eradication of PPR (2023-2027), recently endorsed and launched by the Ministers in charge of Animal Resources Development. The African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR) is the Specialized Technical Office (STO) of the AUC with a mandate for the coordination of the development and utilization of animal resources for the welfare of African people, and is responsible for coordinating implementation of the Pan-African PPR Eradication Programme. To enhance this mandate, the Pan-African PPR Secretariat (PAPS) has been established and institutionalized at AU-IBAR and recently endorsed by Specialized technical committee for Agriculture, Rural Development Water and Environment (AU STC - ARWE ) in November 2023 and adopted by the AU Heads of States and Governments during the summit on 18th February 2024 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The PPR GEP BP and the Pan-African Strategy recognize that progress towards the objectives of PPR eradication, Veterinary Services Strengthening and a more productive small ruminant sector relies upon strong strategic partnerships with Regional Organizations and Regional Economic Communities (RECs), who must provide regional ownership, leadership, collaboration, cooperation and coordination. A critical role at the regional level is that of the Regional Advisory Group (RAG), which reviews the PPR Monitoring and Assessment Tool (PMAT) submissions from countries in their region and on this basis assigns countries to a
particular Stage of the step-wise PPR GCES as well as the continental PPR advisory group.

AU-IBAR and FAO-WOAH PPR Global Secretariat have been collaborating since 2015 in supporting African member states and RECs to develop and align their national and regional PPR eradication strategies/action with the GEP and the Pan African Strategy for the radication of PPR in Africa using the agreed template. In this line, the Regional Strategy for PPR in North Africa has been updated during 2023, the first regional strategy to have been updated in line with the PPR GEP BP and Pan-African PPR Strategy. At a workshop held in Ioannina, Greece, on 21 June 2023, the draft Regional Strategy for North Africa was discussed among Union Magreb Arab (UMA) Member Countries (MCs) and Egypt, who also presented updates on their status of PPR control/eradication. The revised PPR Regional Strategy for North Africa was then presented by the UMA General Secretariat at the 26th Joint Permanent Committee (JPC) meeting of the Mediterranean Animal Health Network (REMESA), held back-to-back with the PPR workshop on 22-23 June 2023. Since then, the consultative review process has continued, with the Strategy updated with information presented by Inter-REC meeting | Rabat, Morocco| 21-24 April 2024 countries at the workshop and again circulated to countries for review.