Training activities of the Pan-African Veterinary Vaccine Centre (PANVAC)

Training activities
Conclusion

D. Sylla and V. Palya

The authors' address is: c/o FAO Representation, PO Box 5536, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Epizootic diseases such as rinderpest, contagious bovine pleuropneumonia and Newcastle disease have put considerable constraints on the economic potential of the livestock sector in Africa. It is obvious that control of these diseases is essential if progress is to be made in this important area. Well-managed vaccination campaigns, the use of high-quality vaccines, a cold-chain network and adequate transport are all absolutely vital for the control of viral and bacterial epizootic diseases and will determine the success or failure of disease control programmes,

Among the many problems facing national vaccine production laboratories are inadequate financial resources, inaccessibility of new technologies, shortage of trained personnel in the specialized technologies of vaccine production and quality control, poor equipment maintenance and lack of spare parts.

After the first continental rinderpest campaign, from 1962 to 1976, it was realized that not all vaccines produced complied to the international standards of quality. To improve the performance of African vaccine production laboratories, the following had to be addressed:

· modernization of production facilities;

· training of laboratory personnel;

· establishment of an independent system for vaccine quality control to certify the quality of vaccines used in vaccination campaigns.

In order to meet these goals, FAO has provided technical assistance to the Organization of African Unity (OAU) through the Pan-African Veterinary Vaccine Centre (PANVAC), both with a series of Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) projects and through United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) funding. The objectives of PANVAC include:

· quality control of rinderpest and CBPP vaccines used in the Pan-African Rinderpest Campaign (PARC);

· biological standardization and control, including the preparation and supply of standardized vaccine seed materials;

· vaccine technology transfer;

· documentation;

· training.

This article summarizes the activities that have been undertaken by PANVAC in its training programme.

Training activities

From 1986 to 1988, the FAO Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) made very important investments by purchasing new equipment for most of the African laboratories producing rinderpest vaccine and launching a training programme for laboratory personnel. personnel This training programme was pursued under a UNDP-funded project in various forms: workshops, in-service training, fellowship training and assignment of experts to the national laboratories as well as assignment of trainees to PANVAC laboratories (Figure 1). The training activities took place at national institutions, PANVAC laboratories and centres of excellence in developed countries.

Workshops

The group or workshop training sessions, which were conducted by FAO consultants assisted by PANVAC personnel, took place in the more advanced laboratories of the PANVAC network countries. It was required that trainees be involved in the relevant specialized fields. The list of workshops is given in the Table. The workshops served to sensitize those involved in vaccine production to new-developments in the field, and they also proved extremely valuable as a forum for discussing problems of production and quality control and for introducing new technologies. Workshops were found to be the most appropriate for laboratory scientists in a leadership role or for institute directors. The highly trained and experienced professionals attending these workshops were able to appreciate the new production principles and methodologies, as well as their potential for application in their own situations. These workshops were not considered to be effective in providing opportunities for the practical training of technicians, however.

PANVAC training. 1988 to 1992 - Formation assurée par le Centre panafricain de production de vaccins vétérinaires, 1988-1992 - Capacitación en el Centro panafricano de vacunas veterinarias 1988-92

Cattle being vaccinated by veterinarians of the International Livestock Centre for Africa - Vaccination du bétail par les vétérinaires du Centre international pour l'élevage en Afrique - Vacunación de bovinos por veterinarios del Centro Internacional para la Ganadería en Africa

Photo/Foto: Van Acker, FAO

Directors' meetings

In 1990 and 1992 PANVAC organized two meetings for directors of national vaccine laboratories. The purpose of the meetings was twofold: for PANVAC to train directors in the fields of production and quality control of vaccines, and for the directors to provide PANVAC with guidance on setting activity priorities, such as defining priority vaccines and the principal constraints facing vaccine manufacturers in Africa. At these meetings recommendations were also made for the improvement of vaccine quality and the regionalization of vaccine production, distribution and marketing. Counterpart staffing for PANVAC, charging of their services and the institutional framework after the conclusion of the UNDP-funded project were also recommended. In sum, these were useful forums for policy reform issues.

List of workshops/Liste des ateliers/Lista de talleres

Title of workshop	Dates	Location	Number of trainees	Level of trainees	Beneficiaries
Rinderpest diagnosis and vaccine production	2-5 May 1988	Laboratoire national de l'élevage et de recherches vétérinaires (LNERV), Dakar, Senegal	6	Veterinarians and technicians	Mali, Chad, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Senegal
Rinderpest vaccine production and quality control	20-25 June 1988	National Veterinary Institute, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia	6	Veterinarians	Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan
Avian viral disease vaccine production	12-14 July 1988	Laboratoire de pathologie animale (LPA), Bingerville, Côte d'Ivoire	8	Veterinarians and technicians	Senegal Guinea Mali Niger, Côte d'Ivoire Chad, Cameroon, Zaire
Rift Valley fever (RVF): epidemiology, diagnosis, control and prevention	12-15 July 1988	WHO Regional Office in Mali	24	Veterinarians and physicians	Mali, Senegal, Niger, Mauritania, Gambia
Contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP) vaccine production	19-23 Sept. 1988	Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL), Mali	7	Veterinarians and technicians	Senegal Guinea, Mali, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire Chad, Cameroon
Seminar on vaccine quality control	5-12 Dec. 1988	National Veterinary Institute, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia	8	Government officials from Ministry of Agriculture	Ethiopia Ghana Malawi, Mozambique Nigeria, Sudan, Zambia
Bacterial vaccines (pasteurellosis, brucellosis, anthrax, clostridia)	6-11 Feb. 1989	National Veterinary Institute, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia	4	Veterinarians	Ethiopia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Somalia
Production and quality control of bacterial vaccines	13-19 Mar. 1989	National Veterinary Institute, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia	4	Veterinarians	African countries
Newcastle disease and other avian veterinary vaccines	3-8 Apr. 1989	National Veterinary Institute, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia	6	Veterinarians	Ethiopia Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique Sudan, Uganda
Production et contrôle de qualité des vaccins bactériens	22-26 May 1989	Laboratoire national vétérinaire, Garoua, Cameroon	9	Veterinarians	Cameroon, Niger, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, Guinea, Madagascar, Zaire, Rwanda
Advanced techniques of rinderpest vaccine quality control	22-27 May 1989	National Veterinary Institute, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia	6	Veterinarians	Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan
Production et contrôle de qualité des vaccine aviaires a virus	18-22 Sept. 1989	Laboratoire national vétérinaire, Garoua, Cameroon	10	Veterinarians	Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Zaire
Poultry vaccines	14-19 Oct. 1989	Animal Research Administration El Amarat, Khartoum, Sudan	10	Veterinarians	Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Rwanda, Turkey
Epidémiologie et sérosurvelance de la peste bovine	23-31 Oct. 1989	Laboratoire national de l'élevage et de recherches vétérinaires Dakar, Senegal	9	Veterinarians	Senegal, Mali, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger, Cameroon, Zaire, Madagascar
Advanced production of rinderpest vaccine	13-18 Nov. 1989	National Veterinary Institute, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia	6	Veterinarians	African and Near East countries
Mycoplasmes et péripneumonie	20-24 Nov. 1989	Laboratoire national de l'élevage et de recherches vétérinaires Dakar, Senegal	9	Veterinarians	Senegal, Mali Côte d'Ivoire Niger Chad. Cameroon, Zaire, Madagascar, Rwanda
Freeze-drying process	11-16 Dec. 1989	National Veterinary Institute, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia	20	Veterinarians, senior technicians, freeze-drying technologists	Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Lesotho Madagascar Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, Afghanistan, Egypt, Turkey, Jordan
Production and quality control of mycoplasmal vaccines	12-16 Nov. 1990	Laboratoire central vétérinaire, Bamako, Mali	21	Veterinarians	Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia
Newcastle disease for rural Africa	22-26 April 1991	National Veterinary Institute, Debre Zeit, Ethiopia	26	Veterinarians	Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi Mali, Mozambique Niger Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia
Regional meeting 1: Meeting of directors of national veterinary vaccine laboratories in Africa	27-28 Sept. 1990	Nairobi, Kenya	18	Directors of national veterinary vaccine laboratories	Angola, Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia Guinea Kenya Lesotho Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, Tanzania, Zaire, Zambia
Regional meeting 2: Meeting of directors of national veterinary vaccine laboratories in Africa	6-8 July 1992	Dakar, Senegal	20	Directors of national veterinary vaccine laboratories	Angola, Botswana Cameroon Chad Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zaire, Zambia

Evolution of the potency of rinderpest vaccines produced in Africa - Evolution de l'efficacité des vaccins contre la peste bovine produits en Afrique - Evolución de la potencia de las vacunas contra la poste bovina producidas en Africa

Rinderpest vaccine quality control results: progress in pass rate by PANVAC - Résultats du contrôle de la qualité des vaccins contre la peste bovine - progression du taux d'approbation par le Centre panafricain de production de vaccins vétérinaires - Resultados del control de calidad de la vacuna contra la peste bovina resultados obtenidos por el Centro panafricano de vacunas veterinarias

In-service training

The in-service training exercises were held exclusively at the PANVAC laboratories. These training sessions generally lasted from two to four weeks, giving trainees enough time to work on the bench and to learn new techniques. The training was aimed at the level of senior technologists involved in the production and quality control of vaccine.

In-service training was considered to be every effective mechanism for practical training of bench technicians and junior scientists from participating national laboratories. It also served to develop a core of personnel in the national laboratories ready to facilitate the PANVAC network system. From the experience gained by PANVAC, it seems that the optimal length of attachment is two to three months, and only two to three candidates should be taken at a time in order to ensure greater personal attention.

Attachment of experts to the national laboratories

Under a 1987/88 TCP project, four consultants were sent for one month to the laboratories of Côte d'Ivoire, the Niger, Mali and Zaire. In 1991, a PANVAC expert was sent to the Kenya Veterinary Vaccine Production Institute (KEVEVAPI) to assist in the refurbishment of vaccine production premises and in the improvement of vaccine production and quality control. This type of training has seldom been possible, even though it was considered to be extremely useful. It involved the attachment of a PANVAC staff member to a production laboratory, which allowed an accurate assessment to be made of the capabilities of the unit and the definition of those areas where improvement was possible. These could then be addressed using a hands-on approach. This procedure confirms the value of attaching PANVAC senior staff to National Vaccine Production/Quality Control Units in the different member countries to rectify problem areas. This form of training also includes an element by which national laboratories can be audited for their adherence to good laboratory practices, good manufacturing practices and test protocols.

Attachment of trainees to PANVAC

Means of financing postgraduate training of young professionals from PANVAC participating countries through other funding programmes such as INSTA (In-Service Training Award) and IPF (Indicative Programme Fund) must be more aggressively utilized. During the first phase of PANVAC, funding provided by the Finnish Development Agency enabled FAO to give an INSTA to a scientist from Kenya who was seconded to PANVAC for two-and-a-half years to work on the standardization of quality control methods for contagious bovine pleuropneumonia vaccine. After his training, he continued in this work with the aim of assuming primary responsibility for the activities in this area. This scheme, which is similar to FAO's Associate Professional Officer programme for young professionals, seems to be rarely utilized in FAO projects, yet PANVAC has found it to be a very useful mechanism for training young professionals from developing countries for entry into the UN system. In this case both the INSTA holder and PANVAC gain scientifically from the experience. It is essential that more young scientists from participating OAU countries be seconded to PANVAC, using the resources available from the above schemes.

Fellowship training

During the first phase of the PANVAC project, the resources available allowed the sponsorship of only two technicians to the United Kingdom and to the United States for three-month training courses in general laboratory technology. Fellowships of two to three months' duration at an advanced laboratory can be very valuable. The trainees, however, must have a specific subject area for training that is directly related to the implementation of a target programme in their home countries. Fellowships operated through a project such as PANVAC probably offer most benefit to the training of counterpart staff for the future operation of project activities. The training of personnel from participating national laboratories is probably better catered to by the INSTA programme and other forms of in-service training by the regional project.

Conclusion

Training is of paramount importance to the successful introduction of new technologies, techniques and standards in vaccine production and quality control. FAO and UNDP have always been committed to providing support to training activities through national and regional training courses and fellowship awards. PANVAC's training programme can be considered a continuation of this theme. Before the establishment of PANVAC and the subsequent launching of its training programmes, the quality of rinderpest vaccine produced by African vaccine production laboratories was relatively poor. The first round of testing performed in 1985 indicated the critical need for training in vaccine technologies. In comparing the performances of production laboratories during the period from 1985 to 1992, it is obvious that the PANVAC training scheme has resulted in a substantial improvement, both in terms of potency value and in the proportion of final products that passed independent quality evaluation (Figures 2 and 3).

In the different training programmes, constant emphasis was put on quality assurance and proper manufacturing and laboratory practices, since it was felt that these concepts had been ignored in the past This training system intensified regional cooperation and also helped to build up a core of competent personnel in the countries concerned to initiate and conduct much of the needed improvement and development in veterinary vaccine production. PANVAC's experience and achievements may inspire other regions of the developing world to adopt this training scheme as a model to increase the availability of trained personnel.