FIGHT AGAINST LINEAGE 1 RINDERPEST VIRUS PROJECT SUDAN

The eradication of rinderpest from Africa is a major objective of the PACE Programme Thiswill be achieved by a series of co-ordinated national PACE programmes that will receivesupport from the PACE Programme's Epidemiology Unit and other Common Services.In common with the global framework of the PACE Programme, the "Fight against lineage 1rinderpest virus" project in Sudan has the overall objective of reducing poverty of thoseinvolved in livestock farming by improving animal productivity, trade and food security.The project purpose is:1. Strengthening the capacity at national level to assess the technical and economicalaspects of animal diseases and to generate appropriate programmes for their control;2. Safeguarding of animal health in the country against major epizootics.The specific objectives at national level were reduced to the following two:• The eradication of rinderpest and the control of other epizootics;• The strengthening of surveillance to support policy formulation for the controlof major epizootics and better access to global livestock markets.The "Fight against lineage 1 rinderpest virus" project for Sudan has been successfullyimplemented in two components. The northern sub-project started in February 2003 and thesouthern sub-project in November 2001. Much has been achieved so far towards theeradication of rinderpest from what is thought to be the last remaining foci of lineage onerinderpest virus. Nevertheless, due to the late start of the programme in Sudan, both subprojects were granted another two years of implementation for Sudan to be recognised byOW as free from rinderpest disease in May 2006, whilst the recognition of freedom fromrinderpest infection can be achieved earliest in May 2008, provided that no rinderpest diseaseor virus will be detected.Building upon the achievements made since the start of the PACE programme, the PACESudan project will focus during the extension phase on the following main outputs. Theseare:RESULT 1: Sudan is recognized by OW as free of rinderpest disease country-wide in May2006 and is on schedule for recognition of freedom from infection on a country-wide basis in2008RESULT 2: The epidemio-surveillance system (ESS) is strengthenedRESULT 3: The control of CBPP and other priority diseases is improved throughout thecountryRESULT 4: Project is managed efficiently