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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:
Wed, 12 Mar 2014 12:02:35 +0000
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Dear Colleagues,
Closure of the PPR-GREN E-conference.
Time flies. It seems like only yesterday that we were starting the e-conference and now, having concluded session 5 and with no pressing AOB, we must close it.
We have had nearly two hundred contributions (don’t quote me as I haven’t really counted up yet) nearly all of which have been constructive and will help the OIE-FAO GF-TADS PPR Working Group to establish a PPR network  that should be responsive to your needs.  The overwhelming response has been enthusiasm for the task of eradicating PPR, for the proposed network and for discussion and sharing of ideas and knowledge.  We have a very practical core of main themes with many sub-themes for discussion and have agreed that important disciplines such as socio-economics, epidemiology and laboratory research and development are vital and should cross-cut across these themes. There is majority support for including PPR progressive control within a bigger package of small ruminant disease control and improved small farmer livelihood improvement with provisos that whatever multi-disease approaches are chosen they must complement the effort against PPR rather
 than detract from it. The network could benefit from devolution into regional sub-units, from user friendly interfacing, and should be moderated.  The network’s purpose remains to promote innovation about PPR control from the field and the laboratory to more widespread use. 
Although the purpose of the e-conference was to provide information with which to set up a network for discussion, the discussions themselves have already started.  I see divergent views on how best to approach immunization against PPR and differences of opinion on which small ruminant diseases are most compatible with a multi-disease programme that has PPR at its core. All of which justifies the need for a forum for more discussion. 
After a shaky start when I was learning the system I have enjoyed myself and thank all of you who have contributed, all of you who have corresponded with me outside the confines of the “official” conference, all of you who have quietly listened in (the silent majority), and those of you who have sent kind words.  If there is anyone whose contribution I have neglected– emails could disappear if not copied to the main conference site – or that I may have upset then please accept my apologies.   I will soon begin to write up the report of the conference which will be forwarded to you by OIE-FAO when finalised.   Throughout the conference and in several quite different parts of East Africa I have relied on a not so new Toshiba laptop and wireless internet modem at little cost, showing that a network such as PPR-GREN can be available to nearly everyone who wants to use it. 
Although the active e-conference is now closed the conference website and related eddresses will remain open for another month for any further contributions. These will be monitored and reviewed on a regular basis by the OIE-FAO GF-TADS PPR Working Group.    It is anticipated that the PPR-GREN will open by the end of this year, though there is no firm date as yet,  and the launch will be announced in advance through a number of avenues. I look forward to more discussions within PPR-GREN, making some contributions of my own, and watching the network evolve.
With kind regards,
Paul Rossiter - moderator.
One of the final contributions highlighted something that I wanted to mention, namely the need for us to include more non-English speakers within the network. At times I felt that we were missing the involvement of one or two well-known institutions and a number of countries where PPR has a long history and remains a problem. This is something that I know OIE and FAO will work on.

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