Professor Vitalii Nedosekov at the 4th Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and North Africa Rabies Expert Bureau: the elimination of rabies can be a reality–time to act and to unite the attempts
Veyrier-du-Lac, a French town hosted the meeting of the 4th Middle East, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and North Africa Rabies Expert Bureau (MEEREB), organised by Fondation Mérieux Les Pensieres – The Centre of Global Health.
The leitmotif of the forum was new, long-lasting vistas of the cooperation in the area of rabies on the basis pf global approaches to healthcare. There were four independent sessions such as:
1. Epidemiology of rabies – harmonization of information on the current situation;
2. International recommendations – refreshment;
3. Educational platforms and resources – implementations;
4. Intersectoral cooperation efforts – status and prospects.
The participants discussed the assessment of rabies manifestation in humans and animals, offered new possibilities of harmonisation of data, presented international recommendations, defined a visual and a practical approach to current and new academic resources in different countries and discussed strategies of the work of the inter-Ministerial commissions to monitor rabies.
There were two workshops such as the participation in creating Epidemiological bulletin and in programs "Sustainable Approach to Rabies Elimination" (SARE), and "Global Dog Rabies Elimination Path" (GDREP). There were also poster presentations – the review of epidemiological data in countries-participants.
The seminar was attended by representatives of 14 countries such as Algeria, Croatia, Egypt, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Serbia, Tunisia, Ukraine, Tajikistan and some global organisations such as World Health Organisation (WHO), World Organisation for Animal Care (OIE), Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC), and Food Agricultural Organisation (FAO).
The status of human and animal rabies in Ukraine was presented by doctor of veterinary sciences, professor, Vitalii Volodymyrovych Nedosekov, head of the department of epizootology and veterinary business organisation, a member of MEEREB.
The present experts got highly interested in this presentation. They discussed ways of further cooperation to eradicate rabies in our country by means of creating a single system.
The triumvirate of international organisations such as WHO, FAO and IEB set the task to eliminate human rabies caused by dog diseases on territories of countries-participants by 2030. To achieve this goal, consultations were organised for representatives of countries-participants. V.V. Nedosekov, taking part in debates, hoped that there would be understanding of a holistic approach to tackle this problem and various resources would be utilised.
The sessions were quite intense and a lot of crucial issues were discussed. That is why many urgent questions were discussed during coffee breaks. Coffee breaks were full of hot discussions of practical ways to solve the problem.
Unfortunately, in our country it is a really difficult task to solve of problem of the elimination of rabies. The elimination of rabies in regions is a highly complicated task which demands incredible efforts.
Vitalii Nedosekov
translated by Olena Soloviova
