New scientific collaborations between IZSAM and Tunisia

On Wednesday, 8 September 2021, in the conference room of the International Center for Veterinary Training and Information "Francesco Gramenzi" of the IZSAM in Teramo, a press conference was held to illustrate the ongoing collaborations, such as the training of Tunisian researchers on SARS-CoV-2 genome sequencing funded by WHO-, and new scientific collaborations between IZSAM and Tunisia under the umbrella of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and the Italian Embassy in Tunis.

"For over 15 years we have been working closely with the Veterinary Services of the Ministry of Agriculture of Tunisia: I am thinking on an ongoing OIE project on animal welfare. In the last months the historic collaboration with the North African country has been extended to the Tunisian Ministry of Health, involving also hospitals. In the framework of the new collaboration, there are here in Teramo with us, the heads of the Tunisian scientific and human health excellences”. Those are the words of the General Director of IZSAM, Nicola D'Alterio, introducing the press conference together with Mohamed Hechmi Louzir and Henda Triki, respectively General Director and Head of the Virology Laboratory of the Pasteur Institute in Tunis, Safa Bouwazra and Yosra Kerkeni as representatives of the Ministry of Health of Tunisia, the head of Microbiology Laboratory at the Charles Nicolle Hospital in Tunis and Ramzi Ouhichi, as WHO delegate in Tunis.

"The projects we are discussing with our Tunisian colleagues - continued DG D’Alterio - arise from the agreement signed during the institutional mission to Tunis in last May (2021), carried out with the Health Director of IZSAM, Giacomo Migliorati. On that occasion we had the pleasure to meet the Italian Ambassador in Tunis, Lorenzo Fanara, whom I thank for supporting our work and facilitating meetings with the authorities of the North African country. The pandemic is a global problem, and for this reason we started international scientific collaborations, especially with Libya, Namibia and Tunisia. At the end of July (2021) we hosted two researchers from Tunisia, whom trained in in our laboratories on the Whole genome sequencing of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, in the framework of a project funded by WHO, still ongoing and planned also for the 2022. The goal is to share samples from the Tunisia, to be tested in Teramo and to build a common Information System involving Mediterranean countries, in consideration of the fact that the Mediterranean Sea is a basin where different countries overlook the same sea, ... to prevent and fight infectious diseases it is essential to work as a network by adopting a One Health approach, as recognized during the recent G20, where the need to consider human beings, animals and the environment as a single ecosystem to act against the health emergencies of today and tomorrow was underlined”.

Asked by journalists, the Director General of the Pasteur Institute in Tunis, Mohamed Hechmi Louzir, highlighted the great support that Tunisia is receiving from countries such as Italy, to face and fight the pandemic, for example through the donation of vaccines and he added: "The collaborations in place and on development with the Institute of Teramo, under the umbrella of the WHO, are of fundamental importance to share knowledge, skills and resources, not only for the Covid-19 pandemic but in a broader perspective, in order to face possible future emergencies through scientific research with a One Health approach, taking into account in equal measure animal health, human health and the environment ".