RADISCON, which stands for "Regional Animal Disease Surveillance and Control Network", is an integrated national and international veterinary information system and has 29 participating countries. Recently, it concluded the implementation of its phase one programme, while a project proposal for the second phase has been presented to potential donors.
RADISCON, as a veterinary information system, was conceived to inform, above all, the (national/regional) veterinary authorities about the zoosanitary situations prevailing in their countries, so as to enable them to manage accordingly any eventualities that might arise.
It issues two disease outbreak reports: the RADISCON Disease Outbreak Report (RADDOR) serves national databases, while the Monthly Recapitulation Report (RADM) serves the regional database, and can also be used to provide useful information to OIE.
The RADISCON phase one project became operational in June 1996, with a planned duration of five years and an estimated budget of US$1 400 000. In the project activities, an allowance of US$250 000 was made for a pilot project on sheep pox eradication, to be implemented in the four Maghreb countries. Through the RADISCON phase one project, four major clusters in the region, linked by trade, were identified, with different geographical and epidemiological situations: the Maghreb and Sahel; the Middle East; the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC); and the Horn of Africa.
Employing a practical approach, the programme focused on the surveillance and control of the most important diseases identified in each cluster.
Radiscon II clusters
The diseases identified by the project in the three clusters of the Middle East, the GCC and the Horn of Africa were FMD, rinderpest, peste des petits ruminants and brucellosis. Peste des petits ruminants, sheep pox and brucellosis were identified in the Maghreb and Sahel cluster.
The Middle East cluster comprises the following countries: Egypt, Iraq, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, the Syrian Arab Republic and Turkey. The Maghreb and Sahel cluster is made up of: Algeria, Chad, the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, the Niger and Tunisia. The Gulf Cooperation Council cluster comprises: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates; and the Horn of Africa cluster: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, the Sudan and Yemen.
The RADISCON phase one project emphasized surveillance. The specific objectives of the programme were, among others, to furnish the national veterinary services with equipment, ensure personnel training and encourage exchange of information among the 29 participating countries. Thus, computers (and software) were purchased and distributed, including some other computers donated by FAO. Over 500 people from the 29 countries received training in animal disease surveillance systems data collection and processing.
The essence of the personnel training was to enhance the participants' knowledge in the application of appropriate epidemiological methods for the analysis and investigation of animal disease occurrence. The training also served to initiate participants into database management and the use of epidemiological software, such as Handi-status, Epi-info, Epi-map and the TADinfo software developed by FAO.
The RADISCON phase two project is intended to strengthen and build on the programme achievements obtained under phase one. The number of countries divided into four clusters has been reduced from 29 to 21 in this new project proposal; the countries of the Sahel region are not included in the second RADISCON project because they are part of another programme, the Pan African Programme for the Control of Epizootics (PACE).
The estimated budget for the three-year project is US$2 000 000; in addition, about US$24 714 900 will be the contribution in kind by the 21 participating countries. The phase two project will essentially contribute to increasing both the volume and safety of animal production and trade, through the strengthening of regional collaboration in risk-based surveillance of major diseases.
In synthesis, the phase two project hopes to achieve five principal objectives:
