AVIAN AND HUMAN INFLUENZA - Regional and Subregional Mobilizations
Mobilization of the African Union
- Regional Strategy (BIRA) (to be completed)
- 7th Conference of African Ministers of Animal Resources (Kigali, Rwanda, November 2 and 3, 2005). The 7th Conference of African Ministers of Animal Resources was held in Kigali, Rwanda, on November 2 and 3, 2005, under the chairmanship of Mme. Rosebud Kurwijila, Commissioner of the African Union for Rural Economics and Agriculture.BIRA’s strategy for the prevention and control of avian influenza, which had been discussed and amended in October 2005 in Nairobi at the 5th meeting of the Executive Committee of ALive (see minutes of the EC5), was officially presented and approved at this meeting.The resulting recommendation reiterated the content of Resolution EC5-02 of the Executive Committee of ALive concerning avian influenza. It was also decided at this meeting that BIRA would unite with OIE and FAO to adopt a joint position to defend African interests at the first International Conference on Avian and Human Influenza in Geneva in November 2006.
- Meeting in Libreville (March 2006) A pan-African meeting (with 45 countries represented), which was also attended by various United Nations agencies, took place in Libreville in March 2006.The goals of this meeting were primarily technical and consisted of reviewing accomplishments emerging from the Beijing meeting: namely the development by countries of their Integrated Action Plans and the reiteration of the importance of animal health issues while the disease is still confined to animals.The Libreville Declaration therefore emphasizes the importance of heeding the recommendations of the international technical agencies (in terms of drawing up Integrated Plans), and of developing hubs of expertise on animal and human health. The United Nations System for Avian and Human Influenza also explained its role and emphasized the need to improve coordination at the country level. Libreville Declaration
Mobilization of ECOWAS/WAEMU
- Dakar meeting (February 2006) – Bamako meeting (March 2006) Following the emergence of avian influenza in Nigeria, and at the instigation of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, a subregional meeting was held in Dakar, Senegal on February 22 and 23.The meeting was attended by representatives of the 15 ECOWAS countries (plus Mauritania, Chad and Cameroon), BIRA and OIE, and by the Ministers of Animal Resources, Health, Trade and Environment of some countries. A decision was made to establish a subregional mechanism for coordinating prevention and response efforts in West Africa, with the establishment of a BIRA-led Steering Committee for this mechanism (based in Senegal and composed of a group of experts drawn from OIE, FAO and PACE), and the creation of an AfDB-based Emergency Fund (see Dakar Declaration). This group of experts met in Bamako on March 16 and 17, 2006 to define rules for the use of this fund.A third meeting is planned for late June 2006 in Abuja, Nigeria, to validate the various documents.
