Cairo, Egypt - Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Disease (ECTAD) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO-Egypt) has organized today the first meeting in 2020 for The One Health Technical Advisory Group (OH_TAG) with the view to reactivate the national OH platform and facilitate information sharing on endemic, emerging and re-emerging zoonotic diseases. The main topics discussed during the meeting included COVID-19, MERS-CoV and other endemic diseases especially avian influenza considering the ongoing winter season.

FAO, WHO, MOHP, GOVS, AHRI identified priority actions that require multi-sectoral collaboration.

The meeting was attended by 40 participants form General Organization for Veterinary Service (GOVS), Animal Health Research institute (AHRI), Ministry of Health (MoH), Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL), WHO and FAO.

The participants identified drivers of OH and priority actions that require multi-sectoral collaboration. The meeting enabled to discuss and share information on the current situation of COVID-19 globally, regionally and at national level. In addition, the participants reviewed and discussed the current situation of endemic zoonotic diseases such as Avian Influenza, Rabies, and Brucellosis; and shared information on ongoing actions to prevent, detect and control these diseases.

Moreover, FAO’s planned activities to strengthen multi-sectoral collaboration were presented, discussed and endorsed by the meeting.

“OH coordination meetings provide important platforms to bring together key sectors and actors in order to share and exchange information for effective management of infectious diseases at the animal-human-environment interfaces” said Zelalem Tadesse, ECTAD Egypt Team Leader. 

Reaffirming his Ministry’s commitment in the fight against emerging zoonotic diseases, Dr. Mohamed Attiya, Head of the Central Preventive Medicine Department, GOVS said “GOVS is committed to work as a defense line to prevent the entry of this disease into Egypt through the early warning system and epidemiological surveys in animals”. He also added that GOVS has been playing active role in controlling AI and combating rabies.

This meeting is the first meeting in year 2020 and is synchronous with the event of COVID-19 outbreak in the world. Furthermore, the OH-TAG is expected to provide advice for streamlining and institutionalization of the OH approach among relevant institutions.

"OH meeting is an important tool for exchanging opinions and information, which contributes to build a database and clear vision that can be built upon to set plans and activities and increase the ability to prevent, especially in light of the spread of epidemic diseases such as COVID-19” said Dr. Hanaa Abu El-Sood AbdElaziz, DG of Epidemiology& Surveillance Dep., MOHP.

The platform also provided opportunity for participants to discuss thoroughly the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. On his part, the representative of WHO, Omar A. Abu Al Atta, said, “Great efforts should be made to enhance OH meetings performance, while constantly working to develop and improve, especially as there is a need for concerted efforts to reduce the potential impact of COVID 19”.

The One Health Technical Advisory Group (OH_TAG) was established in 2017 to facilitate the collaboration among sectors and serve as a platform for sharing information and best practices on current and new events of zoonotic diseases as well as identify joint/multi-sectoral actions that aim to detect and mitigate the risk of zoonotic diseases and AMR.

It is worth noting that ECTAD programs and activities in Egypt are funded by The United States Agency for International Development (USAID).