Animal Production & Health Unit

About the Animal Production & Health Unit
Meetings & Events
Contacts

About the Animal Production & Health Unit

The APO-EMPRES during his mission, from 13 to 19 May, 2001, to Togo and Benin held discussions with staff of the Directorate of Veterinary Services of Togo and Benin as a follow-up activity to: TCP/TOG/8822 (E) Control and Eradication of ASF Epidemic, TCP/BEN/6715 (E) Emergency Assistance for ASF Epidemic Control respectively.

Also discussed were the introduction and promotion of EMPRES programme & TADinfo as a tool for EMPRES activities. The objective of the exercise was to create awareness of what EMPRES can provide and how to install and run TADinfo software. TADinfo, enables laboratories to properly monitor and manage EMPRES animal diseases.

Since the end of TCP/TOG/8822 (E) in Togo, in April, 1999, ASF foci have been identified at country level involving 62 villages with the foci scattered in 7 districts and are under local National Veterinary Services control.

A zoo sanitary control network has been set-up with special instructions to react to any problem related to ASF. An animal health officer has been posted at every zoo sanitary control point to handle the situation and these officers are furnished with motorcycles from the TCP and act as mobile unit leaders.

It was learnt that farmers have not been compensated up to date for stock slaughtered during the outbreaks. As a consequence, mop up activities were inhibited by farmer refusal to have their stock slaughtered.

This situation has led to the persistence of residual foci such as that at Kara and the outbreak of new foci at Dapong 30/03/2001.

EMPRES and TADinfo presentations made during the mission have acquainted veterinary officers with EMPRES programme and its software. Participants showed a particular interest in TADinfo related to its acquisition, installation and usage.

In Benin, it is assumed that the TCP/BEN/6715 (E) was a success. The diagnostic capability established permits sero-surveillance and on-case intervention to overcome outbreaks from old foci.

• a synopsis report covering the disease situation for period August 1997 to September 2000, and a 26-min video film have been produced.
• training provided included:

(i) one regional workshop held in Togo in June 1998 where a regional programme was written;

(ii) two laboratory personnel were trained in ASF diagnosis techniques in Madrid, Spain, February 1998;

(iii) training by a TCDC expert from Bingerville;

(iv) public awareness campaigns held all over the country have enhanced the populace knowledge in veterinary requirements and socio-cultural and economics impact of controlling this ASF;

(v) the Director, Livestock and the Chief, Animal Health Service in Benin represented their country at the regional seminar related to EMPRES, held in Bamako, Mali, 1995 and,

(vi) Benin sent a representative to the regional workshop on TADinfo on emergency interventions held Accra, Ghana, August, 1999.

Meetings and Events

• Seminar held at the Directorate of Veterinary Services, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 21 March 2001. The seminar was attended by 20 professional and technical staff of the Directorate and National Laboratory Services. The discussion that ensued was very lively, animated and generated an enthusiastic interest in the use of TADinfo as a tool for the surveillance and monitoring of EMPRES diseases.
• Joint FAO/IAEA Workshop on "Strategic Planning of Area -wide Tsetse and Trypanosomosis Control in West Africa" was held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 21- 24 May 2001. The meeting was attended by 27 participants from six West African countries, OAU/IBAR, The Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomosis Eradication Campaign (PATTEC), Forum for Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), Consultants and Scientists from Regional and International Institutions, IAEA and FAO. The meeting concluded, inter alia, that the multiplicity of approaches to dealing with the problem of tsetse-trypanosomosis be acknowledged, and taken into account when planning area-wide control/eradication programmes. The workshop recommends that work to plan potential eradication projects in West Africa continues, concentrating on the most cost-effective ways to suppress and then eradicate fly populations, while harnessing such economies of scale as exist and taking advantage of the insights gained, such as the potential benefits of using river basins as a practical unit for eradication. The meeting thus welcomed the information on the joint project between Burkina Faso and Mali as an example of regional co-operation in furtherance of the goal of eradicating tsetse and trypanosomosis.

  

Contacts

Dr. George Chizyuka,
Animal Health Officer

Dr. Henri Kabore,
Associate Professional Officer, EMPRES

FAO Regional Office for Africa
PO Box 1628
Accra
Ghana
Phone: +233 21 701 09 30
Fax: +233 21 701 09 43
email: George.Chizyuka@fao.org

top of page