RESOLAB Annual Coordination Meeting - fao ectad bamako

RESOLAB action plans over the years have benefited immensely from internationalpartners, but however encouraged member states to take ownership of RESOLAB.The guest of honour Dr. Mamadou Kane, Secretary General of the Ministry of Livestock andFisheries, Mali on behalf of the Minister, thanked organisers of the meeting for choosingBamako as the host. He noted that RESOLAB was set up for avian influenza (AI) but cansatisfactorily play a role in the control of other Transboundary Animal Diseases (TADs). Heexpressed gratitude to USAID, USDA-APHIS, FAO, OIE, AU-IBAR for their continuoussupport to RESOLAB and with this he declared the meeting officially opened.The second session of the day started with presentation of the objectives of the 2009meeting by the RESOLAB coordinator, Dr. B. M. Seck who stated that the RESOLAB meetingtends to see the possible ways to increase technical support to national labs and to assumethe viability and sustainability of RESOLAB. He stated that the general objective of this yearRESOLAB meeting was aimed at assessing the progress achieved by member labs and settargets for the near future. He enumerated the specific objectives as follows:Review of national laboratories diagnostic activities in 2009Review of regional laboratories LNERV-Dakar and NVRI-Vom activitiesResponses to 2008 Annual Coordination Meeting recommendationsReport on RESOLAB network coordination activities andThe expected outcome of the meeting he emphasised shall be directed towards having acommon view and strong commitment of member states on the:Networked labs main activitiesNetwork coordination activitiesHow to improve Governments 'support to their national labsHow to improve RESOLAB visibility and sustainabilityAction Plan Outlines for 2010 and main targets for near future.After the presentation, the Chairman Dr. (Mrs) L.H. Lombin acknowledged him for a jobwell-done. In regards the issue of sustainability, she pointed out the need to know theprogress made from the previous annual meeting recommendations as this will guide thegroup on how to identify what to sustain and how to go about it.The next presentation was on USDA/APHIS activities in West and Central Africa to supportrapid detection and early response for HPAI by Dr. L.Logan. She highlighted the2