Regional Meeting & Technical Workshop in Public Health #2
November 15-17, 2016, Belgrade, Serbia
The second Regional Meeting and technical workshop in public health of the MediLabSecure project was held from July 4th to 6th 2017 at the Institut Pasteur in Tunis, Tunisia.
Objectives & Content
This multi-disciplinary meeting addressed clinical, entomological, epidemiological, diagnostic as well as human and animal health aspects of Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus, which has been identified as a priority in this Region. This regional meeting was also an opportunity to discuss current and common public health issues. For example, an update session about Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus was scheduled.
A panel of international specialists were invited to give presentations on these topics. Transversal sessions and group activities on topics such as vector control and biorisk management was also held.
To make the most out of this gathering from the Network representatives, the third MediLabSecure technical workshop on Public Health was embedded into this regional meeting, and focussed on RVF risk assessment. This rapid risk assessment exercise was carried out in a multisectoral manner with representatives of animal health, human health and public health institutions as well as medical entomologists involved.
Countries represented during this meeting were Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia.
Presentations
Presentations given during this meeting have been recorded.
They are available on the MediLabSecure's Vimeo page and by clicking on the links below.
- Hechmi LOUZIR, Institut Pasteur in Tunis, Tunisia: "Foreword"
- Lobna GAAYEB, Institut Pasteur, France: "MediLabSecure Project Overview"
Session 1: Rift Valley fever
- Rachid BOUGUEDOUR, OIE Sub-Regional Representation for North Africa, Tunisia: "Session opening"
- Mohammed BENGOUMI, FAO Sub-Regional Office for North Africa, Tunisia: "Session opening"
Session 2: MERS-CoV
- Jean-Claude MANUGUERRA, Institut Pasteur, France: "New coronaviruses : What next?"
- Guillain MIKATY, Institut Pasteur, France: "MERS-CoV, human diagnostics"
Session 3: Integrated Surveillance
Session 4: Vector surveillance & control
- Nabil HADDAD, Lebanese University, Lebanon: "Vectors and Vector-borne diseases in Lebanon"
Session 6: Rapid risk assessment
Pictures & Videos
EXPLORATION COUNTERS
To enhance networking and intersectoral exchanges during the meeting, we have scheduled two exploration counters during the coffee and lunch breaks.
The first was dedicated to the MediLabSecure-developed mosquito identification tool for species of the Euro-Mediterranean area: MosKeytool, that you can discover and download here.
The second counter consisted in a thematic crossword game, for which the rule was to form "One Health" teams to complete the quizz collaboratively.
You can download and form your own One Health team to complete the quizz!
TOOLKIT
A toolkit containing mosquito factsheets was handed to all participants. More factsheets are being developed and will be distributed throughout the network to support bench and field work.
REGIONAL MEETINGS OF THE MEDILABSECURE NETWORK
Two regional meetings & technical workshops in Public Health have been held so far in the MediLabSecure network.
The first regional meeting, held in Serbia in November 2016, involved 11 countries from the Balkans, the Black Sea and Turkey, and focused on Crimean Congo hemorrhagic fever.
The second regional meeting was held in Tunis in July 2017 and involved 8 countries from North Africa and the Middle East, and focused on Rift Valley fever.