As the OIE is now halfway into the implementation of its 6th Strategic Plan (2016–2020), the Director General, Dr Monique Éloit, reviewed the extensive progress made in the Organisation’s activity programme in 2017, and demonstrated how these activities support the development of resilient animal health systems. In addition, she outlined perspectives on the future.
Across the world, OIE staff – at headquarters and in the Regional and Sub-Regional Representations – work with experts and national Veterinary Services from OIE Member Countries on a daily basis to carry out the ambitious activity programme that was developed to ensure that the objectives of the 6th Strategic Plan are achieved.
Paris, 21 May 2018 – Putting the OIE’s activities in their global context, Dr Monique Éloit reaffirmed the OIE’s commitment to improving animal health and welfare across the world and thereby improving socio-economic conditions for communities across the globe.
“Faced with rising world hunger, the inordinate number of human deaths caused by animal diseases, and the economic losses generated by these same diseases, the OIE places its mandate at the heart of global challenges so that you, our Member Countries, are better equipped to respond to animal health emergencies and prepare for the future”.
Within the framework of the 6th Strategic Plan, the OIE focuses its work on three main areas of work: standard setting, ensuring transparency in animal health information and strengthening the capacity of national Veterinary Services. The Director General highlighted the interdependence of the 3 areas of work and stressed the importance of ensuring that these activities are at the centre of coordinated collaboration with global partners in different sectors.
In the field of controlling priority animal diseases, the OIE continued its involvement in the implementation of global strategies. Some of the most notable advances included: the launch of a global action plan against rabies, in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Global Alliance for Rabies Control (GARC); the launch of a new action plan for FMD control; and the finalisation, in conjunction with FAO, of the resource-mobilisation strategy for the campaign to control and eradicate peste des petits ruminants by 2030.
The key elements in the fight against these diseases are strong national Veterinary Services and the implementation of mass vaccination campaigns. But for other diseases, the use of chemical drugs such as antimicrobials is crucial. This is why the OIE, in addition to publishing international standards on the responsible and prudent use of these drugs, encourages and supports countries to translate the global strategy, adopted by the WHO, FAO and OIE in 2015, into national action plans. The OIE is working on this issue at the highest political level, and in 2017 it hosted the second physical meeting of the United Nations Interagency Coordination Group on Antimicrobial Resistance.
The modernisation of the World Animal Health Information System, which is being upgraded to create an integrated system that is connected to other databases, will further support the fight against animal diseases. Launched in 2017, the WAHIS+ project will, in time, provide everyone with easier access to robust, validated epidemiological data and facilitate a more thorough analysis of animal health data, making it possible to evaluate risk more accurately and anticipate animal health events.
The OIE’s mandate was originally built around two missions – the development of standards and the dissemination of animal health information. However, to meet current global health security challenges and those of the future, functional and well-organised veterinary and public health structures are more important than ever, and this has become the third crucial area of work for the Organisation. To reflect the interdependence of its three strategic objectives, the OIE is now launching the PVS Pathway Evolution, revising the programme which, after 10 years in operation, is widely recognised by the international community as essential to the improvement of the performance of national Veterinary Services. This new version of the PVS Pathway will take into account the new global health challenges by positioning itself within a wider context, going beyond the technical and veterinary fields and strengthening connections with other global programmes in order to contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Further information:
- OIE Annual Report 2017: www.woah.org/report2017
- Director General’s full speech
- 86SG Spotlights: interviews about the PVS Pathway
- Video: 10 years of the PVS Pathway
- Business Case for the PVS Pathway
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