The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) under the Global Framework for the Progressive Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases (GFTADs) umbrella, developed a Global Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) Control Strategy that was endorsed in 2012 by representatives from more than 100 countries. The aim of the Global FMD Control Strategy is to reduce the global burden of FMD and the risk of reintroduction of the disease into free areas. Since the development of the global strategy, several regional roadmap meetings have been conducted in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

Representatives from 16 member countries of West African region belonging to FMD virus Pool 5, where serotypes O, A, SAT 1 and SAT 2 are endemic, came to Dakar, Senegal to deliberate on challenges in the region pertaining to FMD. The aim of the meeting was to share and update information on FMD virus circulation in the region, assessing the progress and gaps of each country along the FMD regional roadmap.

Representing the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Production of Senegal, Mr Mamadou Uosseynou Sakho opened the meeting and shared “In Senegal, agriculture and livestock are two important sectors, representing 30% of GDP. In this sense, this meeting is crucial to share information on FMD virus circulation in the region.”

Chairperson of the meeting, Dr Samia Metwally, Senior Animal Health Officer from FAO headquarters, said “to control the scourge of FMD in the region, it is important to align our efforts on the ground with other trans boundary animal disease control activities.”
Dr Metwally added, the Progressive Control Pathway (PCP) for FMD control is an important part of the strategy.

Dr Robert Guei, Coordinator of the FAO Subregional Office for West Africa, added “the global FMD strategy developed under the GFTADS umbrella of FAO and OIE provides recommendations for countries to fight against outbreaks in order to take early action”

Mr. Karim Tounkara, representing OIE stated that “The actual globalisation context requires us to create a regional approach to succeed in controlling FMD until 2027, as proposed by the global strategy to control FMD.”

Dr Paolo Motta, representing the European Commission for the Control of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (EuFMD) added that “this meeting today is an opportunity to continue the momentum as efforts are on-going to address regional challenges on FMD. In this sense, we are lucky to have with us some international partners working towards increasing the understanding of livestock mobility issues, such as CIRAD, Pirbright to name a few.”

Since the inception of Global FMD Control Strategy, several initiatives were taken to create an enabling environment to make FMD control a feasible option, particularly for countries most affected by the disease. Due to the incursion of serotype O in the region, more than 137 FMD outbreaks were reported in eleven countries in West and Central Africa between January and December 2018, which is still ongoing.

The disease can be devastating for countries and can inflict serious losses, it was highlighted by one of the participants, that in 2018 alone Mauritania registered an estimated losses of over €10million due to FMD outbreaks.

For a better implementation of the Global FMD Control Strategy at regional level and to regularly monitor and evaluate the implementation of their national FMD control strategies, the participating countries agreed to continue progressing along the Roadmap towards the vision of ‘Absence of Clinical FMD’ by 2025, based on the guidelines and principles of the PCP-FMD. 1. The GF-TADs FMD Working Group and EuFMD shall also continue to provide regional trainings on the PCP-FMD principles, implementation and surveillance processes in order for Member States to develop and implement robust risk assessment plans and risk-based strategic plans.

The newly appointed Director-General of FAO, Dr Qu Dongyu has also expressed his focus on Africa in a recent meeting, stressing on “We need to be action oriented in solving Africa’s challenges” He added “Lets work together, learn together and contribute together for the benefit of all member countries.”

This meeting was attended by the Chief Veterinary Officers and laboratory or epidemiology expert engaged in FMD control from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Côte d'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo and representatives from Regional Economic community and experts from the FAO/OIE reference centers.