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Establishment of a PPR Global Research and Expertise Network (PPR-GREN)

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Subject:
From:
Zelalem Tadesse <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Zelalem Tadesse <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 4 Feb 2014 18:11:34 +0100
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My name is Zelalem Tadesse, I’m a Veterinary Epidemiologist working for the African Union Commission – InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources
First I would like to thank FAO for taking this initiative.

As a continental expert, I would like to start by giving brief overview about the importance of the disease in Africa.
1) Distribution, level of occurrence and control strategies: based on the reports received from member states of AU, PPR has become endemic in at least 30 countries (>55%). The disease is widespread in all geographical regions of Africa, except Southern Africa region. However, I’m afraid that there is no much information about the prevalence of the disease in each of the affected countries. In this regard, I support the idea of Serge from Minnesota, who suggested undertaking baseline survey to understand the level of PPR before launching a control program. In most countries, control strategies are designed to control outbreaks instead of addressing the disease in a coordinated manner.
2) Current Initiatives:   Recognizing the scale of the problem and with the view to have a coordinated and harmonized approach, AU-IBAR and AU-PANVAC developed a continental control strategy, which was endorsed by the African Ministers responsible for livestock development in April, 2013. The strategy had been shared with FAO, OIE and ILRI for comments and feedback before it was taken to the Ministerial meeting.
3) Research Needs: considering the weak delivery system on the continent, development of a thermostable vaccine will be an important milestone for effective control of PPR and its eventual eradication. Furthermore, as it’s important to guide our strategy on scientific evidences and facts, it may be useful to undertake a more indepth study about the characteristics of the virus, especially its basic reproduction rate taking into account various regional specificities such as endemicity, population density, production system, etc. In relation to this, it’s also important to clearly understand the role of other species such as cattle and camels (not only wildlife) in the transmission and epidemiology of PPR….I think this is one of the grey areas that should be looked into especially when we think of eradication. 
4) Lessons from RP: I fully agree with many of the participants that we need to take lessons from RP eradication programs. In this regard, we all know that the role of para-vets in the eradication of RP was significant. However, we must be also mindful that countries that had shortage of middle & high-level professionals 20/30 years ago are not in the same situation today. Therefore, the issue and debate on whether to use para-vets need to be decided and left to local policy makers depending on their reality on the ground. 
Thank you and regards

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