AFRICA - OIE has provided African nations with 20.3M doses of bf vaccine for poultry

[Theresa42]

Google-translated from Spanish:

The OIE provides to Togo a million dose of vaccines against influenza to make haste of the vaccine bank for the bird-raising protection in the developing countries and transition
July 18, 2007

Immediately after to have confirmed the first center of influenza to make haste in Togo, the OIE has provided to this country a million dose of vaccines of the bank for the protection of adult birds against stock H5N1 of the virus of influenza to make haste.

The provision has been possible thanks to the collaboration between the OIE and the donors of the World-wide Bottom for the Health and the Well-being of the Animals and to the financial support of Canada by means of the Canadian Agency of Desarrollo Internacional (ACDI).

From its creation in May of 2006, the vaccine bank has provided to twenty million three hundred thousand vaccines to the African countries: Egypt (14 million dose), Mali (a million), Mauritania and Ghana (2 million), Senegal (a million) and Mauricio (300 000), within the framework of the collaboration between the OIE and the InterAfrican Office de Cattle Recursos of African Uni?n (UA-IBAR), with the financial support of the European Commission and of Canada.

The OIE constituted initially the virtual vaccine bank for the African countries and in order to quickly help the infected countries to vaccinate their populations of risk birds. Also the free countries of infection can resort to this bank that wish to have a strategic stock. The strategic stock can be used in the long term in the country in case of a negative evolution of the situation.

The vaccine bank does not completely depend on a physical stock but also of the commitments of the supplier to give vaccines at the opportune moment. A loss of vaccines due to the victory of the dates of lapsing is avoided therefore.

The supplier has been selected by the OIE by means of international licitation based on the quality of the product, its price and the rapidity of supplying, and satisfies all the demanded and recommended norms of quality in the Sanitary Code for the Terrestrial Animals with the OIE.

The OIE has been able to maintain the virtual vaccine bank against influenza to prepare and to extend it to other regions of the world. The Canadian Agency for the Development the International already has confirmed its financial participation in this global project during three years (2007-2009).

An increase of the contributions will allow the OIE to secundar of more active way the programs of vaccination in those countries where, because of the permanent circulation of the virus, the vaccination strategies prevail as an essential tool of fight against the disease.

The production of vaccines must be according to Manual of Tests of Diagnosis and Vaccines for the Terrestrial Animals of the OIE and must demonstrate that the product significantly reduces the excreci?n of virus of the birds vaccinated in case of later infection.

The selection of vaccines must be based on the capacity demonstrated by the product to prevent the circulation with the virus in the specific species. He is recommendable that the check tests of quality associated to this degree of effectiveness are reflected in the documentation that accompanies each lot. Another factor of capital importance is the respect of the chain of the cold (4-8? C) during the storage and transports of vaccines.

http://www.agrodigital.com/PlArtStd.asp?CodArt=52407

[HenryN]

Re: AFRICA - OIE has provided African nations with 20.3M doses of bf vaccine for poul

country, especially like Ghana, can have serious socio-economic effects where over 80% of the country's poultry populations of approximately 24million are in the rural areas where they are not kept intensively but scavenge around for their survival.
Farmers need to make sure that they do not accidentally bring the disease from one farm to another by sharing infected equipment-or even by carrying the disease on their feet when they visit another farm.
Ms. Anna Nyamekye said the government is cracking down on the illegal import of chicken and chicken products from other countries. "We arrest and destroy any birds and their products being illegally imported," She said. "Sometimes they enter from the North and come as far as to Accra".
Anna Nyamekye said the Government's attention is now focused on bio-security on poultry farms to prevent the spread of the disease and other poultry diseases from farm to farm.
She commended Usaid and other development partners for their assistance and called on them to continue supporting the country in fighting the disease.
The Acting Usaid Administrator Henrietta Fore with Ghanaian and American health officials at the Veterinary Hospital celebrated the success of workers in containing the spread of the desease in the country.
"Stamping out the disease in the country helps not only Ghanaians but West Africa and the world," said Fore, who is also the U.S. Undersecretary of State and is in the country to participate in the ongoing AGOA Forum.
Since 2005, Usaid has donated nearly U.S.$1 million to Ghana to prevent and combat bird flu, and they a further $300,000 in funding for emergency response will be released this week.
Usaid Ghana, Infection Disease Advisor, Paul Psychas said Bird flu has a devastating effect on poultry and can swiftly wipe out an entire farm. In some countries the virus has also spread to humans, sparking fears that avian influenza might cause a global health crisis.
There have been three bird flu outbreaks reported in Ghana this year, but so far, no humans have contracted the disease.
"Right now it's only a poultry problem, but we want to keep it that way," Paul Psychas said.
American officials have lauded the Ghana's effectiveness in collaborating with international organizations in dealing with the threat. Ghana's government has spent $2.5 million of its own money to deal with the disease and to educate farmers and the public.
"Ghana has been a model in the region," Psychas said.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200707190304.html

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