Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) severely affects the productivity of livestock, disrupting regional and international trade  in animals and animal products. The most significant impact of the disease in low and middle-income countries is losses in production, utility and income, which together affect livelihoods and impact food security and nutrition of farmers. In order to reduce the FMD burden, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations  (FAO) and the World  Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) developed a 15-year Global FMD Control Strategy in 2012. 

Foot-and-mouth disease roadmap meetings are organized under the umbrella of the FAO/OIE Global Framework for the Progressive Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases (GF-TADs), by its FMD Working Group, with the technical support from the European Commission for the control of FMD (EuFMD).

In order to assist the East Africa region to strengthen the capacity to effectively respond to this devastating disease, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in close collaboration with the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) holds its fourth FMD Roadmap Meeting from 29 to 31 March 2022, which is being organized by the Global Framework for the Progressive Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases (GF-TADs) FMD Working Group. Participants countries include Burundi, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Republic of the Sudan, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zanzibar and Uganda.

The meeting objectives are:

1. Share  and  review  information  about  changes  in  risks  related  to  FMDV  circulation  within the regional ecosystem to support recommendations for the implementation of successful control measures including vaccination strategies;
2. Strengthen   the   understanding   of   the   PCP-FMD   principles,   and   facilitate   the   application  of  the  PCP-FMD  Toolkit  including  the  PCP-FMD Self-Assessment  Tool(SAT) and the PCP-FMD Support Officers (PSO) system to assist and guide countries in   the   development,   submission,   implementation   and   monitoring   of   national   strategies;
3. Review   implementation   of   recommendations   of   3rdEastern   Africa   Roadmap   meeting (3-5 July 2018) and 11th Eastern Africa RAHN (16-17 November 2021);
4. Assess  and  map  the  progress  on  FMD  control  of  Eastern  African  countries  by  reviewing  the  outcomes  of  the  ongoing  FMD  control  activities  at  national  levels  (outputs of the SAT);
5. Update the membership of the FMD Regional Advisory Group (RAG) to monitor and follow-up the regional FMD roadmap recommendations;
6. Strengthen the regional epidemiology and laboratory networks for Eastern Africa;
7. Update the Roadmap for FMD control in East Africa, using the principles of the PCP-FMD;
8. Encourage discussions to identify regional priorities and key support needed by countries from development partners to control FMD and to strengthen their surveillance systems and laboratory capacity.