Libreville, 8 April 2022 - The first meeting of the Intersectoral Technical Committee for the Follow-up of the Project for the Strengthening of Regional Disease Surveillance Systems in Central Africa, Fourth Phase (REDISSE IV) was held on Friday, under the leadership of Mrs. Kapinga Yvette NGANDU, Commissioner in charge of the Department of Gender Promotion, Human and Social Development of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and Chairperson of the said Committee.

This Intersectoral Technical Committee for the Follow-up of the Project for the Strengthening of Regional Disease Surveillance Systems in Central Africa is mainly composed of officials and experts from the different departments of ECCAS (Department of Gender Promotion, Human and Social Development, Department of Natural Resources, Agriculture, Health and Social Welfare); Department of Natural Resources, Agriculture, Environment and Rural Development-DERNADER; Administrative Secretariat of the ECCAS Commission and the Office of the President of the ECCAS Commission), in addition to experts from the REDISSE IV Project Coordination and Management Unit, and the Central African Regional Animal Health Centre (CRSA -AC).

It was set up to serve two main purposes:

1. to monitor the implementation of the REDISSE IV project in general, and

2. to serve as a working group for the implementation of a multisectoral "One Health" approach in order to ensure efficiency in achieving the results of the said project.

It was agreed that the said working group will also meet in the form of a sub-committee once every two months to deal specifically with issues related to the establishment of the "One Health Regional Platform", which at this stage is ad hoc until the operationalisation of the Central African Health Organisation (CAHO). The said working group may occasionally call upon experts from partner organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC Africa), the World Health Organisation (WHO), etc.  

In her opening remarks, the Chairperson stated that the mission of this committee is to ensure that the REDISSE IV Project achieves its objectives by providing regular advice and guidance to identify potential bottlenecks that may hinder its effective implementation, and to ensure that the One Health approach is effectively taken into account in the actions undertaken within the framework of the REDISSE IV Project, as well as in the more global framework of ECCAS health sector activities.

The Commissioner also emphasised that achieving results is not optional for the Department of Gender, Human and Social Development and the Department of Natural Resources, Agriculture, Environment and Rural Development, as these two departments are responsible for the three key sectors of the One Health Approach, namely human health, animal health and environmental health.

On the occasion of the meeting, Dr Ludovic FIOMONA TAMADEA, REDISSE IV Project Coordinator, presented the main achievements of the REDISSE IV Project, the status of implementation of the recommendations of the World Bank mission from 7 to 11 April 2022 and the Terms of Reference of the Intersectoral Technical Committee for the internal monitoring of the implementation of the REDISSE IV Project. In addition, Dr. Diane MUTAMBA, expert in charge of monitoring and evaluation within the REDISSE IV project, shared the main lines of her work plan concerning the monitoring and evaluation of the project, as well as the mechanisms for following up on the recommendations of the Intersectoral Technical Committee of the REDISSE IV project.

At the end of the rich exchanges that followed the presentations, the members of the said committee appreciated the proactive measures taken by the Commissioner in charge of the Department of Gender, Human and Social Development, as well as the REDISSE IV Project Experts to address the challenges identified by the World Bank supervision mission and committed themselves to play their role fully for the effective implementation of the said project.  

The REDISSE IV Project is being implemented in the five (5) countries of ECCAS, namely Angola, Central African Republic, Congo, DRC and Chad. The Regional Coordination Unit is based within the ECCAS Commission, under the supervision of the Commissioner in charge of the Department of Gender, Human and Social Development.