AVIAN INFLUENZA: WEEKLY UPDATE ON FAO ACTIVITIES

UNCLAS ROME 00678

SIPDIS

STATE FOR IO/EDA, EUR/SE, EUR/WE, NEA/ENA, EA/SEA, OES/IHA
USAID FOR DCHA/OFDA GGOTTLIEB, PMORRIS; GH/KHILL, DCARROLL
AND BZINNER; AFR/MHARVEY, ALOZANO; EGAT A/AA JSMITH;
ANE/ACLEMENTS, K/CRAWFORD; EGAT/AG JYAZMAN AND JTHOMAS
USDA FOR OSEC STUMP/PENN/LAMBERT/CAINE,
FAS PETTRIE/HUGHES/CLERKIN, APHIS CLIFFORD/HOFFMAN
GENEVA FOR NKYLOH/USAID
HHS FOR OGHA (STEIGER)
BRUSSELS FOR USAID/PLERNER AND APHIS/PFERNANDEZ
PARIS FOR GCARNER
USEUCOM FOR ECJ4
VIENNA PASS APHIS
CAIRO PASS APHIS

FROM THE U.S. MISSION TO THE UN AGENCIES IN ROME

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KFLU EAGR EAID CASC SENV SOCI TBIO FAO WHO AVIAN INFLUENZA
SUBJECT: AVIAN INFLUENZA: WEEKLY UPDATE ON FAO ACTIVITIES
#1 FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 3, 2006

REF: (A) 05 ROME 3949; (B) 05 ROME 3320; (C) 05 ROME 2979;

(D) 05 ROME 1142; (E) 05 ROME 3976; (F) 06 ROME 0087;
(G) 06 ROME 0000 (sic); (H) 06 UNROME 0315; (I) 06
UNROME 0430; (J) 06 UNROME 0626


1. Summary: In an effort to keep all USG agencies in
Washington and in the field informed on FAO activities to
combat and control Avian Influenza (AI),USMISSION UN ROME
has instituted this new weekly reporting cable. FAO
Emergency Operations and Rehabilitation Division (TCE) and
Animal Production and Health Division (AGA) staff informed
us that FAO:

-- needs experts with language skills and regional and/or
international experience to deploy worldwide;

-- established a tentative schedule of international and
regional training workshops and meetings; FAO will also hold
meetings next week with representatives from the USG and
various donors to discuss strengthening FAO's emergency
response capacity; and

-- finalized the terms of reference for decentralized
emergency support units to strengthen regional networks in
Africa and elsewhere to respond to the spread of AI in
birds. End Summary.

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International Technical Staff with Regional Expertise
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2. AGA's Senior Veterinary Officer Juan Lubroth requested
that, in the USG search for experts to work on AI, both
USAID and USDA should consider tapping into its respective
pools of experts used locally and regionally by USG Missions
worldwide. This will not only assist in the recruitment
process to cover the necessary skills required, such as
languages, but will also facilitate operations due to
cultural familiarity with the country and/or region.
USMISSION UN ROME notes that with previous emergency
operations, for example the desert locust operations in West
Africa in 2005, FAO reported on the difficulties some teams
faced when consultants who had the requisite technical
skills were unable to communicate in French or subsequently
refused to travel upcountry in Niger or Chad because of
unsubstantiated cultural misconceptions. For the general
skills sets required by FAO, please refer to their personal
history form at http://www.fao.org/VA/adm11e.dot. (Note:
USMISSION UN ROME suggests that USG agencies reconcile/cross-
check their database of experts against not only
veterinary/epidemiological/virological skill sets but
languages and international experience as well to categorize
candidates for deployment to specific regions. End Note)


3. Lubroth indicated that current needs include human
resources to strengthen the Technical Cooperation Program
(TCP) office in Budapest and technical staff to be deployed
to Kabul and Islamabad. FAO currently has a temporary
consultant from the University of California-Davis posted to
Beijing to assist in vaccine studies, but still requires a
longer-term expert for at least a 6-month posting. In
Africa, Zambia, Malawi and Botswana, and Tunisia were noted
as key countries requiring technical assistance, the latter
of course would demand Arabic and/or French language skills.
He cited APHIS/Cairo's Linda Logan as a good resource for
North Africa. As for Latin America and the Caribbean,
Lubroth remarked that the entire region is in good shape
with the exception of some Caribbean and Andean nations,
which will need bolstering. Lastly, he stated that a long-
term expert is needed in Tbilisi to work on the joint
FAO/OIE regional initiative known as Global Framework for
Progressive Control of Transboundary Animal Diseases (GF-
TADs). FAO's country clustering in the GF-TADS framework
will give a better idea of its human resources needs
worldwide for regional support units to fight AI and other
transboundary diseases (for more on GF-TADS, visit
http://www.fao.org/ag/againfo/resources/docum ents/empres/gf-
tadsmay2004.pdf).

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Upcoming Training Meetings, Workshops and Conferences
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4. TCE provided information on a tentative schedule of
international and regional training workshops and
conferences that FAO has planned over the next four months.
Most of these meetings have been arranged in conjunction
with other technical agencies:

-- March 6-10 in Zagreb, FAO, the United Kingdom's Royal
Veterinary College (RVC),and the French-based Centre de
Cooperation Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le
Developpement (CIRAD) will hold an epidemiology training
workshop for Eastern Europe. Similar FAO/RVC/CIRAD
epidemiology workshops are being planned for the Middle
East, West Africa, East/South Africa and North Africa
beginning mid-year onward.

-- March 7-9 in Pretoria, FAO will hold a regional workshop
on Notifiable Avian Influenza in Southern Africa.
Representatives from SADC, AU-IBAR, OIE, and WHO will
provide opening statements, while FAO, OIE, OCHA, USAID,
UNICEF, CDC and OVI representatives will report on lessons
learned.

-- March 16-17 in Bamako, FAO, OIE, the West African
Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and BAR-PACE will hold a
strategic regional meeting. This will be followed by a
regional meeting of Chief Veterinary Officers (CVOs) to
coordinate/harmonize national plans.

-- March 20-24, FAO and the Italian-based Istituto
Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (IZSV) will hold
a laboratory techniques workshop in French in Bamako for
West African nations; and simultaneously hold the same
workshop in Bangkok with the Australian-based Commonwealth
Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) for
Southeast Asian nations.

-- April 23-27 in Tehran (to be confirmed),FAO/IZSV
laboratory training for Middle East nations.

-- May 15-19 in Rabat, FAO/IZSV laboratory training for
North Africa.

-- May 29-June 2 in Budapest, FAO/IZSV laboratory training
for Eastern Europe.

-- June 1-2 in Rome, joint OIE/FAO International Scientific
Conference on Avian Influenza in Wild Birds.

-- June 12-16 in Nairobi, FAO/IZSV laboratory training for
Eastern/Southern Africa. Training is also planned for Dakar
some time in June.


5. Next week, FAO is hosting a meeting for representatives
from the U.S. (led by APHIS Administrator Ron DeHaven),the
Netherlands, and the European Union to discuss efforts to
strengthen FAO's emergency response capabilities for AI.
Unrelated to this, TCE also reported that Laurent Mselatti,
Rural Development Sector Coordinator of the World Bank
office in Vietnam, will be in town to discuss with key FAO
staff epidemiology and compensation issues in Vietnam.

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Regional Decentralized ECTAD Units
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6. Earlier this week, FAO finalized its Terms of Reference
for regional decentralized Emergency Centre for
Transboundary Animal Disease Operations (ECTAD) units.
These regional ECTADs will be directly linked to FAO HQ's
central ECTAD unit under the supervision of CVO Joseph
Domenech, and will be comprised of AGA, TCE and General
Affairs and Information (GI) regional staff. The units will
liaise with existing regional networks and laboratories and
disseminate information to as well as receive guidance and
instructions from the central unit. In order to create
synergy with existing structures, decentralized ECTAD units
will be established in Bamako, Cairo and Nairobi. An ECTAD
unit has already been established in Bangkok.


7. This is the first of a series of Weekly Reports that
USMISSION UN ROME will begin sending in order to widely
disseminate information on FAO activities to combat and
control Avian Influenza.

Hall