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

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From:
Paul Rossiter <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Paul Rossiter <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 11 Mar 2014 09:53:06 +0000
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Dear Colleagues,
During the fifth week of the conference we addressed “Organization and operationalization of the network”, the network being PPR-GREN.
We started very quietly and I was so worried that fatigue was setting in that I sent round an extra plea for some inputs.  A BIG thank you to the stalwarts who responded; perhaps as Michael Baron said it wasn’t fatigue so much as our lack of experience when it comes to setting up networks.  
By the end of business yesterday we had 12 substantive contributions to the session. Looking through them I see at least 18 subjects/topics for consideration in making PPR-GREN work successfully. Two of these were specifically mentioned by 5 respondents each.   One, happily, is that the network must be a forum for technical consultation between all of us, something that has been at the core of the conference from its conception.  The other subject was that of more networks.   Drs Tim Obi and Chris Daborn made the case for networks to support laboratories and to address other diseases and Dr Tabitha Kimani has given us the opportunity to keep the momentum going on PPR with the forthcoming e-conference on socio-economics and PPR.   Dr Jeff Mariner drew attention to the Global PPR Research Alliance, which was also acknowledged by Dr Rickard Kock.  
Three important operational measures that could help define how the network will work in practise were each mentioned 4 times by different participants.  The first is that the network should be divided up into regional and possibly sub-regional mini-networks that are all linked within PPR-GREN.  This would allow for regional variations in co-ordination, language, socio-economics (yes that is me saying this) and epidemiology.  The second was that time should be spent looking for the most suitable IT “platform” to host the network.  I am not entirely sure what OIE and FAO have planned in this regard but having been almost glued to the present FAO site for five weeks I can see that it works well but could be better.  Thirdly, the network(s) should be moderated.   
Other subjects mentioned were:  that specific themes and sub-themes should be open for discussion for a set period, that no more than one theme/sub-theme be discussed at one time, that there should be periodic summaries of discussions, regular bulletins about PPR and information on new publications concerning the disease and its virus are required, that the network should be a repository of knowledge on PPR, and that the network be multi-disciplinary and involve all stakeholders including public and private animal health providers.   I am not sure how many of us are actively involved in running networks but Dr Richard Kock is and advised that in his experience smaller networks with less than 100 members function better than large networks.  This would support the concept of several regional or sub-regional groups within PPR-GREN. 
One important modality that no one addressed was how we can have discussions that are already throwing up disparate views on some  themes and sub-themes  and then develop consensus for the strategy makers. Maybe we will not always develop consensus and will have a number of competing views. This will be a challenge for the moderators and discussion leaders to work out in order to provide the innovative feedback to the PPR-Working Group in OIE-FAO GF-TADS.  
Many thanks to those of you who contributed so thoughtfully to this session. 

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