The Regional Meeting for South Africa took place from 7 to 9 November in Pretoria at the Faculty of Veterinary Science. The meeting was attended by 40 participants from various veterinary institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), ERFAN partners and international organisations.
The delegates came from Namibia “Central Veterinary Laboratory” and “University of Namibia”; Botswana “Botswana National Veterinary Laboratory”; Mozambique “Central Veterinary Research Institute” and “Centro de Biotecnologia UEM”; South Africa “University of Pretoria”, “Onderstepoort Veterinary Research Institute” and the NGO Jembi; Tanzania “Tanzania Veterinary Laboratory Agency”; Zambia “Central Veterinary Research Institute”; Zimbabwe “Central Veterinary Laboratory” and the “University of Zimbabwe”; Lesotho “Central Veterinary Laboratory”.
The African colleagues met representatives from five Istituti Zooprofilattici participating in the network: Torino, Foggia, Palermo, Portici and Teramo.
The meeting was opened by the Director General of the Teramo IZS, Nicola D’Alterio, Silvia Marrana representing the Italian Ambassador in Pretoria, the representative of the WOAH Sub-Regional Office for South Africa, Letshwenyo Moetapele, and the Head of the South African Veterinary Services, Michael Botlhe Modisane. Nosipho Nausca-Jean Ngcaba, South Africa’s Ambassador to Italy, greeted the participants with a pre-recorded message.
The meeting was also attended by representatives of several International Organisations: Mariana Marrana, WOAH Paris, Ahmadu Babagana, FAO South Africa, Moonasar Devanand, WHO representative in South Africa and Madeline Newman, project manager of the Star – IDAZ network. Their presence provided a better understanding of how ERFAN partners interact with the aforementioned International Organisations.
The road map for future relationships was drawn up after presenting the Network’s successes in 2019 and discussing the objectives of the new phase of the ERFAN project.
Given the outcomes, the participants expressed their enthusiasm to WOAH for funding the Network for another three years.
Professor Emeritus Faculty of Veterinary Science University of Pretoria and Dr Michael Botlhe Modisane, Head of the South African Veterinary Services
