Country situations were evaluated during regional meetings (Road map). By early 2018, the first round of regional consultations, launched in 2015, was finalized in the nine PPR regions of Africa, Asia, Middle East and Europe. These meetings provided the opportunity to present the PPR global strategy and its tools; carry out a first self-assessment of each country’s situation regarding PPR and the capacity of its Veterinary Services (VS) to control the disease; and develop the regional Roadmap for the region and obtain countries engagement for its implementation. The meetings also served to identify other small ruminant diseases that could be controlled together with PPR.

Under the PPR GEP, once countries have developed the capacity to carry out and complete thorough epidemiological assessments and have set up adequate surveillance systems, it is expected that targeted vaccination activities over two to four years should be enough to bring the country’s PPR situation under control and move toward eradication. Establishing the nine regions has obvious benefits for promoting effective communication and collaboration between neighboring countries. Through aligning with the RECs present in each region, there are clear opportunities for administrative and logistical support within regions that will further assist the PPR GEP.

From an epidemiological point of view, though, the behavior of the disease under field conditions does not always conveniently align with regional boundaries.

Geographic and climatic considerations, patterns of pastoral movements, trade routes, the distributions of communities across national borders and other factors mean that the spread of disease may follow patterns that extend beyond the limits of these administratively defined regions.