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. -------------- -------------- International Technical Staff with Regional Expertise -------------- -------------- ¶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). -------------- -------------- Upcoming Training Meetings, Workshops and Conferences -------------- -------------- ¶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. -------------- -------------- Regional Decentralized ECTAD Units -------------- -------------- ¶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