Technical meeting in Tunis on official foot-and-mouth disease status applications

A delegation from the G. Caporale Institute, consisting of Director Vincenzo Caporale and the head of the National Reference Centre for the study and verification of Foreign Animal Diseases (CESME), Rossella Lelli, took part in a technical meeting held in Tunis on the foot-and-mouth disease status of the North African countries. The meeting was also attended by heads of veterinary services and scientific experts from Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia.

The meeting, organised by the Sub-regional Representation Office for North Africa of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), was designed to investigate the possibility for member countries in the area to obtain the status of foot-and-mouth-free areas, as prescribed by the OIE. Such recognition would have considerable socio-economic, commercial and institutional repercussions for the countries concerned, and the Sub-regional Office of the OIE, which will receive technical and scientific support from the G. Caporale Institute, has begun a support process that will enable Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia to submit dossiers applying for recognition of this important health status by the end of 2011.

The procedure that these countries are required to follow when submitting their dossiers, which will be supported by the G. Caporale Institute, promotes the harmonisation and coordination of national programmes designed to monitor and improve diagnostic tools for foot-and-moth disease.