1st West Africa Roadmap Meeting on the Foot-and-Mouth Disease Progressive Control Pathway (FMD-PCP)
Lomé, Togo,
The first West Africa FMD Roadmap meeting was held in Togo 7-8 September, 2016. The objectives of the meeting were, among others, for the countries in the region to have a technical platform to provide training on PCP-FMD, share information on FMD virus circulation and assess country progresses using the PCP as a core tool. The meeting was attended by veterinary services representatives of fifteen countries, namely; Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.
Opening remarks were given by representatives from the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Hydraulic of Republic of Togo, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), FAO, and OIE. Director of Veterinary Service of Togo commended the organizers for holding this first meeting in West Africa aimed to develop a harmonized strategy for FMD control in the region. He highlighted that this meeting is a big step forward for reducing or eliminating FMD virus circulation by 2025.
The countries were assessed along the PCP Stages considering the data provided in their PCP-FMD questionnaires and their presentations. The outcome of the analyses was presented by PCP experts from FAO, OIE and EuFMD to the Regional Advisory Group (RAG) of West Africa for final recommendation on countries' PCP stages. The RAG consists of three Chief Veterinary Officers (Nigeria, Niger and Benin) and leads of the regional epidemiology (Senegal) and laboratory (Ghana) networks elected by the participating countries.