Cairo, Egypt - The Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation (MALR), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Ministry for Primary Industries in New Zealand, have organized a collaborative Workshop between Egypt and New Zealand to Design an Applied Epidemiology Training Programme for Egypt and the Region.

The aim of the workshop is to design a long-term Applied Epidemiology Training Programme to help preparing qualified national and regional epidemiologists, who hold accredited training curricula. Ultimately, this will help in studding and controlling the transboundary diseases, the emerging infectious diseases, as well as the establishment of a network of veterinary epidemiology between Egypt and neighboring countries, by participating in studies that help the region to develop control programmes.

The workshop also aims at identifying Egypt and Region’s needs, finalizing the draft of the training program proposal, identifying the proposed aspects and ways of cooperation and integration, while identifying the partners and future visions.

Dr. Mona Mehrz, Deputy Minister for Animal Resources, Fisheries and Poultry, opened the workshop’s ceremony, with the presence of H.E. Greg Lewis, New Zealand Ambassador; Dr. AbdelHakim Ali, head of General Organization For Veterinary Services, Mr. Toni Ettel, Programme coordinator in FAO; and Mr. Andre Van Halderen, representative from the Ministry for Primary Industries in New Zealand.

“The workshop comes at a time when it is important to continue supporting the technical cooperation between the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry for Primary Industries in New Zealand and FAO, along with the exchange of experiences between these parties. It also help in establishing the foundations of epidemiological analysis of the most important diseases such as avian influenza, Foot and Mouth diseases; and in supporting the establishment of a regional training programme for applied veterinary epidemiology that serves Egypt based on its needs, “ said Dr. Mona Mehrz.

“MALR is taking many measures to develop the poultry industry and animal production; to establish databases on poultry, livestock and fisheries while identifying the coordinates of farms in all governorates; and to review the procedures of biosecurity. Such measures also include establishing feed factories, veterinary quarries and recycling units’ farms and slaughterhouses; facilitating access to concessional loans with a 5% interest, implementation of the pilot project for genetic improvement”. She added

MALR takes also different measures to encourage the production of domestic poultry and animal vaccines, and the establishment of poultry production projects in desert areas to provide self-sufficiency of protein, while supporting the local production and increasing export opportunities

. A number of officials, national and regional epidemiologists, New Zealand experts, and some of the international and regional organizations have attended the workshop.

“New Zealand is pleased to be able to share experiences and expertise in applied epidemiology to cooperate at the forefront of building biosecurity capability in Egypt and the wider region. This new initiative is just a part of the broader programme of agriculture cooperation between New Zealand in Egypt, which can be considered as the bedrock of the New Zealand-Egypt bilateral relationship,” said HOM Greg Lewis.

“Today’s collaborative design workshop is an important step in building a region-specific programme. It’s great to have a high level of participation and to see the support and encouragement from FAO. FAO’s support will be key to ensuring a successful and sustainable programme for the future”, He added.

“FAO has worked to provide all necessary support for the establishment and development of epidemiological units with the veterinary services through many projects at all levels, and to provide the Commission with important technical and scientific assistance. Such assistance requires providing the necessary expertise, organizing training courses and workshops for scientific meetings in the field of Infectious epidemic diseases to identify their causes and the most appropriate ways to control them”. Said Mr. Toni Ettel, Programme Coordinator at FAO.

“Despite all the exerted efforts to reduce the spread of epidemic diseases, the control methods need to be reviewed and updated in order to be able to withstand the many challenges facing the control and containment of animal epidemic diseases, not to forget the challenges related to developing realistic and ambitious ideas and scientific insights. This will eventually help in overcoming these obstacles, while exploiting carefully the material and human resources. This workshop, which includes elite of scientific and field expertise, is in line with this context as it is a valuable addition to the previous exerted efforts”, He added.

“This workshop comes within the framework of developing the veterinary services system in general, and supporting the epidemiological system in particular. In cooperation with the veterinary services in New Zealand, this workshop paves the way for establishing epidemiological units in all veterinary medicine directorates and veterinary departments, as well as providing them with the necessary equipment and training”. AbdelHakim Ali, head of GOVS said

New Zealand has agreed to provide technical support in the field of fish cages and the exploitation of appropriate sites in the Egyptian seas to establish fish cages to breed different types of marine fish, shellfish and crustaceans. This support will also include doing analytical studies to select the best areas in the Red and Mediterranean seas’ (in terms of water analysis, climate, water currents, plankton, temperature) for aquaculture operations, taking into account applying management systems based on biosecurity and maintaining a pollution-free ecosystem.