US Ambassador urges effective collaboration, partnership
June 6, 2016 By Alusine Sesay
The United States Ambassador to Sierra Leone has underscored the need for an effective collaboration and lasting partnership between countries, organizations, institutions and individuals, so as to prevent, detect and respond to deadly infectious disease threats.
Ambassador John Hoover was speaking yesterday at the consultative country meeting held at the Family Kigdom complex on the Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) component of the USAID funded Emerging Pandemic Threats-2 (EPT-2) progamme.
Reflecting on the collective efforts applied in the fight against the deadly Ebola Viral disease in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, Ambassador Hoover stated that, “One of the things we learned is that no single country, no single organization can effectively detect, prevent, and respond to infectious disease threats like Ebola if it is acting alone, and in isolation from others.”
“Indeed, we learned that we must work together. We must cooperate and collaborate. We must form lasting coalitions and partnerships,” he stressed.
The EPT-2 is a 310 million United States Dollar grant signed in 2015 between the FAO Director General and the United states Ambassador to Italy. Its overall objective is to prevent and limit disease transmission and dissemination in developing countries in Africa, Asia and near East.
Ambassador Hoover said the US was proud of the role they played in the fight against Ebola in the three hard hit countries of Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, adding that their pride was built on the Knowledge that, “We were but one part of a larger coalition of governments, international partners, UN agencies, NGOs, the private sector, and ordinary citizens that all came together to defeat Ebola.”
“ It is vital that we hold on to this spirit of partnership and teamwork as we move from fighting Ebola to a more hopeful stage-the stage where we are now, in which we strive to ensure that we are all better equipped to prevent, detect and respond to future outbreaks,” he emphasized.
FAO’s Acting Country Representative,Dr. Mary Okumu said the EPT-2 programme would contribute significantly to another US Government’s initiative –the ‘Global Health Security Agenda,’ which she said was now led by more than 50 countries to strengthen the public and animal health sectors globally to accelerate progress towards securing the world from threats of high impact diseases that originate in animals.
She said the programme would endeavor to prevent, detect and respond to infectious disease of high impact on health of both human and animal.
“It will also address relations between livestock and livelihood in terms of sustainable food and nutrition security and impacts on re-emergency or emergency of new pandemics,” she said.
She reflected on the negative impacts of the Ebola Virus Disease and the Avian Influenza on Western and Central African countries, stating that, “It is in this context that in October 2015, the USAID and FAO, agreed to implement the programme with a view to address pandemic threats before they become emergencies.”
The programme,which she said would be implemented in collaboration with other EPT-2 partners ,would adopt an integrated ,multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary approaches.
“It will accelerate the working together not only of persons from animal health discipline, but also environmentalists, wild life experts,socio-economists,forestry scientists, and others to combat re-emergence of infectious diseases of potential consequences,” she said.
The UN diplomat stated that the USAID’s and FAO’s partnership on controlling animal diseases and managing related human health threats spanned over decades, adding that since 2004,USAID financial backing for the work they do stood at USD 320 million.
“This has significantly contributed to FAO’s success in addressing the global crisis due to emergency and spread of zoonotic avian influenza through building sustainable capacity in animal health to address high impact emerging and re-emerging zoonoses, particularly in Asia. The USAID funding enabled FAO to leverage significant additional funding from other partners and donors resulting in enhanced capacity at decentralized offices to support broader challenges of animal health and livestock development through country priority frameworks and regional priorities,” she stated.
She affirmed FAO’s commitment to making the programme a success by deploying experts from different disciplines and working very closely with their technical partners to institutionalize the One Health Concept.
Representing the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security,Dr.Francis Sankoh,who is the Chief Agriculture Officer, said animal production plays a direct role in the process of socio-economic transformation and contributes to the nation’s nutritional and food security.
“Livestock often constitute a reserve of wealth, which can be used to counter risk of income loss and food insecurity. This savings and insurance function will remain important so long as the commercial financial systems remain inaccessible to the majority of people,” he said.
In order to achieve the overall objective of the EPT-2, he underscored the need to build the capacity of the national veterinary services to be able to effect early detection and be prepared to respond immediately.