Africa-Press – Seychelles. The health of the Indian Ocean at the heart of exchanges
The Health Surveillance Unit of the Indian Ocean Commission (COI) organized from November 28 to December 2 the Regional Technical Committee (CTR) and the Pilotage Committee (COPIL) of the regional network of epidemiological surveillance and alert management (SEGA – One Health). This week of meetings was the opportunity to take stock of the actions taken in favor of regional public health, but also to act on the work plan for the next two years.
Fifty representatives of the member states of the IOC and of the SEGA network – One Health, of the Health Surveillance Unit of the IOC and institutional and technical partners met from November 28 to December 2. The objective of this exchange week was twofold. In the first time, a technical exchange was held on the subjects of major interest, before focusing on the balance of the past year, the needs of the member states and the programming for the next two years.
This SEGA – One Health Network, which brings together more than 300 health professionals from the Indian Ocean, is a reference platform for health cooperation, promoting the One Health approach: “[The IOC] is armed with a global approach innovative in the matter of public health, integrating human, animal and environmental health into a “single health”, and this, in the face of the difficult health context exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, without speaking of the new current health risks linked to climate change », recalled General Richard Rakotonirina, Minister of National Defense, Minister of Foreign Affairs p.i. and president of the Council of Ministers of the IOC.
Maintain the strengthening of surveillance and response capabilities
Since 2009, the SEGA – One Health network has been working to strengthen the surveillance and response capabilities of the Indian Ocean. This COPIL was the opportunity to demonstrate the concrete usefulness of this regional platform, more particularly for the year 2022: the response to Covid-19, the strengthening of entomological surveillance, the establishment of national One Health platforms, the digitization of surveillance, training in field epidemiology, biosecurity and biosecurity in laboratories or community surveillance, etc.
“Diseases with epidemic potential do not cease to affect the daily life of the population. Covid-19, malaria, arboviruses or even climate-sensitive diseases […] “This is why “we must maintain our vigilance and improve our response capacity”, recalled the Minister of Public Health of Madagascar, Prof. Zely Arivelo Randriamanantany.
It is, in fact, about strengthening the resilience of the Indian Ocean and being better prepared to face health challenges. For Mathieu Thenaisie, deputy director of the AFD for Mauritius and the Seychelles: “Learning to face epidemics is also to collectively impose a regional territorial approach, recognizing a certain convergence of vulnerabilities […] The experience of dengue, Chikugunya or Zika, showing that viruses do not know human borders, has thus led the IOC to structure the SEGA – One Health network, whose existence has proven to be crucial at the moment from the emergence of the Covid-19. »
The Secretary General of the COI, Pr. Vêlayoudom Marimoutou also emphasized that public health is a prerequisite for the sustainable development of the region: “In order to improve the health of the Indian Ocean, we also contribute to food and nutritional security, the economy, Education and training, innovation, adaptation to climate change, and much more! […] health is a global public good at the heart of our resilience. »
Antibioresistance, non-communicable diseases, climate-sensitive diseases and operational research
Articulating around various thematic poles of excellence, the SEGA – One Health network ensures the relevance of its fields of activity, taking into account the priority subjects of interest for the member states of the COI and that, in order to ensure an integrated response. “The integrated approach […] has been further developed in 2022 […] by extending the areas of intervention: non-communicable diseases, plant health and operational research after integrating, since two years, the climate change and its impacts on health”, said Anna Cichocka from the delegation of the European Union to Madagascar and the Comoros.
The recommendations issued during these meetings will therefore make it possible to identify the priority activities to be carried out for the coming years, including the development of operational research and a framework for monitoring and evaluation of the SEGA – One Health network. This framework will allow, among other things, to evaluate the results obtained since the beginning of the SEGA – One Health network.
The fight against non-communicable diseases (NCDs) will be strengthened through the integration of this topic in FETP trainings but also through the improvement of tools to obtain reliable and regular statistics through the DHIS2 software (ed. management of health information already used by member states) or even through operational research. Moreover, the elaboration of a plea on primary prevention on the reduction of risk factors, especially for diabetes, has been announced.
The fight against antibiotic resistance also caught the attention of the participants. In addition to the surveillance based on the laboratory, they add, among others, the prevention and control of infections in the hospital environment, the strengthening of capacities, the awareness of the correct use of antibiotics but also the strengthening of the communication of risks (advocacy) .
Regarding the vector risk, the objective will be multiple: to strengthen the capacities of the anti-vector fight at the regional scale and to operationalize the entomological surveillance in the Comoros, Madagascar and the Seychelles as well as the surveillance of the resistance of mosquitoes to insecticides. Regional formations, equipment, deployment of expertise, regional workshops and crisis simulations are the means that will be deployed to achieve this.
For climate-sensitive syndromes and diseases, the emphasis will be on the collection, analysis and capitalization of data on diseases linked to climate data. This theme will be notably addressed by operational research in order to dispose, among other things, of prediction tools. Technical manuals and advocacy documents on the measures of anticipation and response to be deployed in the face of health risks associated with the climate will also be developed by the SEGA – One Health network. And this is in line with the national and regional context.
In addition to the thematic training and capacity building planned, other perspectives have been announced to strengthen the sharing of information, expertise and experiences: collaboration with other regional surveillance and response networks, within a framework of complementarity and agreement with the notion of global health, and finally the organization of an international One Health Congress.
Initially planned until the end of 2023, the activities of the SEGA – One Health network should be extended until December 2024.
For More News And Analysis About Seychelles Follow Africa-Press
