Addis Ababa, 04 June 2012 - Within the framework of the Pan African Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Campaign (PATTEC), the 10th PATTEC National Coordinators’ meeting is scheduled to place from 13 – 15 June 2012 in the Grand Mensvic Hotel, Accra, and Republic of Ghana.

Organised by the PATTEC Coordination Unit of the African Union Commission (AUC) in collaboration with the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of the Republic of Ghana, the meeting is aimed to evaluate achievements made by countries and various stakeholders to date; review the balance of work to be done and reshape the work plans to ensure completion of activities on schedule. Lessons learned will be used to inform project proposals that are under development in the other affected countries.

The specific objectives of the proposed meeting include 1) to harmonize country level program performance indicators, 2) to building synergy among country results 3) to share experiences/elaborate on challenges, 4) to share best practices to boost implementation, 5) identify global problems, and 6) tracking of cross-cutting issues and revised work plans and Budgets.

Trypanosomiase is a disease that affects human beings and livestock and is transmitted by the tsetse fly. It is considered to be one of the main obstacle for socioeconomic development in sub-Saharan Africa. About 40 countries are affected and since 2000, the AUC embarked in the PATTEC Initiative to eradicate tsetse and trypanosomiasis from the continent. Since, then a lot have been achieved through the efforts of the affected countries and support from partners such as the African Development Bank ( AfDB), Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), European Union (EU) , International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), World Health Organisation (WHO), Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed), etc.

The participants to the meeting will include the National PATTEC Coordinators from the six AfDB supported countries (Burkina Faso, Ghana and Mali in West Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda in East Africa) as well as some Member States Experts from Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, DR Congo, Gabon, Guinea, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Tanzania, Togo, Senegal, Sudan, South Africa, South Sudan, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Additionally, representatives from key stakeholders and partners (AFDB, BADEA, FIND, GALVMED, WHO, IAEA, IBAR/ISCTRC, ILRI, ICIPE, LTTRN, CIRDES, FAO, EAC, SADC, UPF, CEBEVIRHA, OIE, OCEAC, LSTM, NRI, IRD, Swiss tropical Institute, Vestergaard-Frandsen, ApproTech, Orsmonds, Zwingtec, Hudson EE UU, Argo, Bayer Crop Sciences, TseCon, AVIMA, Passion Africa, University of Neuchatel, etc.) have been invited to participate.

The AUC Delegation will be led by Dr Abebe Haile Gabriel, Director of the Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture accompanied by the PATTEC Coordinator, Dr Hassane H. Mahamat and other AUC staff.

Interview request should be directed to Mrs. Esther Azaa Tankou, Directorate of information and Communication, AUC, Tel: +251 911 3611 85; e-mail: yamboue@africa-union.org

For further information contact the PATTEC Coordination Unit: Hassanehm@africa-union.org; Wandag@africa-union.org and PATTEC Ghana staff: cimahamat@yahoo.com; nuhuibrahim@yahoo.com.

For more information kindly consult the AU Website: www.au.int