PAN AFRICAN PROGRAMME FOR THE CONTROL OF EPIZOOTICS (PACE)

PACE aims at the eradication of rinderpest from African continent as part of the Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme (GREP). The regulatory framework for the certification of individual countries is provided through a stepwise approach which is based on the International Animal Health Code of the OIE and which has been termed "OIE pathway". 3 steps have been defined: Provisionally free from rinderpest by the country; OIE Recognition of Freedom from Rinderpest and OIE recognition of freedom from Rinderpest infection. The vast majority of countries participating in the PACE programme established their epidemiosurveillance system, supported by national or regional diagnosis laboratory and progressed along OIE pathway. In order to coordinate all the activities regarding laboratory diagnosis of animal diseases within the PACE and provide technical assistance to the PACE Epidemiology Unit a position for a laboratory Expert was made available. This position was fulfilled by IAEA from June 2001 to March 2005 and by the programme PACE itself from April 2005 to April 2006. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Interafrican Bureau of Animal Resources (IBAR) of the African Union (AU) signed a collaborative agreement in 1999 on a strategy for an active partnership in the field of animal health and production in the following key areas: technology transfer, capacity building, PACE, Farming in Tsetse Control Areas (FITCA), Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign (PATTEC), AU/IBAR/IGAD Initiative and Animal Production. In recognition of IAEA's expertise in the diagnosis and monitoring of major epizootics, it was proposed to extend the partnership in animal disease diagnosis and to provide the necessary technical assistance to the PACE programme with particular reference to: establishing and consolidating the diagnostic capacity for the major epizootics (Rinderpest, Peste des Petits Ruminants, Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia and Foot and Mouth Disease) based on nuclear and related techniques, assisting with the monitoring of the national and regional control programmes for these epizootics, establishing a diagnostic capability for the differential diagnosis of rinderpest, providing assistance to regional reference laboratories for the confirmatory and differential diagnosis of rinderpest, strengthening the cooperation between national and regional reference/service laboratories, establishing a regional capability for the supply of reagents and disease diagnostic kits, strengthening the cooperation and information exchange between AU/IBAR, IAEA and the national veterinary laboratories. In this respect the International Atomic Energy Agency launched the Regional Project RAF/5/053 —Assistance to OAU/IBAR/PACE Programme for the Control and Eradication of Major Diseases affecting Livestock.