Please wait while loading your Bulletin

Panorama Around the worldPVS Evaluation missions with a special emphasis on peste des petits ruminants

Around the world Posted on 2023-02-22 15:52:53

PVS Evaluation missions with a special emphasis on peste des petits ruminants

Lessons learned from pilot missions

Authors

Susanne Münstermann (1) & David Sherman (2)*

(1) Animal health consultant, Berlin, Germany.
(2) Capacity Building Department, World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).

* Corresponding author: D. Sherman.

The designations and denominations employed and the presentation of the material in this article do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WOAH concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers and boundaries.
The views expressed in this article are solely the responsibility of the author(s). The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by WOAH in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.

Font size - A A A +

WOAH’s PVS Pathway allows Members to systematically assess their national Veterinary Services. Now, by adding a specific focus on PPR, WOAH is assisting its Members to identify their preparedness for effective participation in the global eradication of this destructive disease.
Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a devastating viral disease that threatens the livelihoods of sheep and goat keepers in Africa, the Middle East and much of Asia. In 2015, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, founded as OIE), in conjunction with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), launched a worldwide eradication effort against PPR. This PPR Global Control and Eradication Strategy (GCES) called for the eradication of PPR by 2030 and emphasised the importance of strong national Veterinary Services (VS) in accomplishing that goal.

Through its PVS Pathway, WOAH offers an opportunity for Members to assess their national VS and identify gaps and weaknesses. The key element of the PVS Pathway is the PVS Evaluation mission. This involves a team of PVS experts being invited to conduct a systematic assessment of a country’s national VS by evaluating 45 Critical Competencies deemed essential for effective performance.

The PPR GCES identifies 32 of those 45 Critical Competencies as necessary for the effective control and eradication of PPR. It has developed a PPR Monitoring and Assessment Tool (PMAT), which uses those competencies to help countries pinpoint their position along the GCES stages towards WOAH freedom from PPR.

WOAH recognised that there was a clear synergy between the PVS Evaluation and the PMAT assessment and proposed to the Joint FAO/WOAH PPR Secretariat that PVS Evaluation missions with PPR-specific content be launched. These would assist Members to obtain a regular PVS assessment, along with a more focused appraisal of their readiness to control and eradicate PPR.

Eight pilot PVS missions with PPR-specific content were undertaken between 2017 and 2019 [1]. These missions were well received by the participating Members as they provided a deeper understanding of the link between VS capacity and the ability to eradicate a transboundary disease, and the use of the PMAT tool to strengthen VS in the fight against PPR.

During the period of PVS mission suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the PMAT tool was revised, and a new version produced. The PVS missions with PPR-specific content have now resumed, and three new missions were carried out in 2022, in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, and Sierra Leone.

https://doi.org/10.20506/bull.2023.1.3388

Related informations to article

  • Biosecurity for small-scale aquaculture

  • New WOAH Collaborating Centre for Antimicrobial Stewardship in Aquaculture (CASA)

  • Improving aquaculture in the Middle East