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 (WOAH) developed a 15-year Global FMD Control Strategy in 2012. As part of the Strategy, countries are encouraged to progressively control FMD using the Progressive Control Pathway for FMD (PCP-FMD), with control efforts coordinated at regional level. Around 80 countries in the world are currently engaged, at various levels in the implementation of the PCP-FMD to reduce or eliminate FMD virus (FMDV) circulation.  

Regional FMD roadmap platforms have been successfully established to facilitate coordination and assess progress in FMD control. 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 technical support from the European Commission for the Control of FMD (EuFMD). Participants include Chief Veterinary Officers (CVOs)/WOAH Delegates and national laboratory and epidemiology focal points (experts) engaged in FMD control programmes, FAO regional and national representatives, WOAH Regional and Sub-Regional representatives, representatives from regional bodies and from the WOAH/FAO Reference Laboratory Network for FMD.

The 2nd Central Africa FMD roadmap meeting objectives are: 

• Share and review information about changes in risks related to FMDV circulation within the Central African FMDV ecosystem to support recommendations for the implementation of successful control measures including vaccination strategies;
• 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), to assist and guide countries in the development, implementation and monitoring of national strategies;
• Review implementation of recommendations of 1st Central Africa Roadmap meeting (2018);
• Assess and map the progress on FMD control of Central African countries by reviewing the outcomes of the ongoing FMD control activities at national levels (outputs of the SAT);
• Update the membership of the FMD Regional Advisory Group (RAG) to monitor and follow-up the regional FMD roadmap recommendations;
• Update the Roadmap for regional FMD control in Central Africa using the principles of the PCP-FMD;
• 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.

The expected outcomes are: 

• Country representatives are updated and familiarized with the current regional FMD situation, and viral circulation (objective 1);
• The latest updates and revisions of the PCP-FMD Guidelines, Toolkit and supporting mechanisms for PCP-FMD progression (such as the PCP-FMD Support Officer (PSO) system) are clear and familiar to the countries (objective 2);
• Information on FMD vaccination programmes is shared and recommendations are provided regarding the use of appropriate vaccines according to the most updated virological surveillance data, and the implementation of appropriate vaccination strategies (objectives 1 and 4);
• Membership of the FMD Regional Advisory Group is updated from 2022 to 2025 (objective 5);
• The PCP-FMD Roadmap for Central Africa is updated up to 2027 (objective 6);
• Enhance the ResEpi and ResoLab Networks (objective 3 and 7);
• A final report will be provided by the GF-TADs FMD Working Group (objectives 1, 4, and 7).