Nairobi, Kenya (PAMACC News) - Eleven different African institutions have come together through a consortium to build capacities of African scientists who are researching on common diseases, especially those that are transmitted from livestock to human and vice versa through a concept known as ‘One health.’“Many times we treat tuberculosis in humans, but it doesn’t work because it is originating from livestock animals,” said Dr Bassirou Bonfoh, the Director for the consortium also known as African Science Partnership for Intervention Research Excellence (ASPIRE).“One health concept therefore recognises that the health of people is connected to the health of animals and the environment, and must therefore be tackled wholesomely,” said Bonfoh.One Health is therefore defined as a collaborative, multisectoral, and trans-disciplinary approach -working at the local, regional, national, and global levels - with the goal of achieving optimal health outcomes recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment.The consortium is currently supporting 60 young African scientists (Master, PhD students and Postdocs) who are currently researching on different diseases that include TB, brucellosis, rabies among many others.From Kenya for example, James Akoko is one of the fellows studying brucellosis for his PhD at Maseno University.Brucellosis is one of the neglected diseases, and it is transmitted from livestock to humans through poor meat handling, consumption of unpasteurized dairy products and direct contact with infected animals. “My study seeks to understand the role of different animals in the treatment of the disease,” said Akoko.He notes that if one is infected with the disease, then it is important to understand the origin in order to address the disease conclusively.“In many cases, we treat brucellosis without knowing whether the patient picked it from a goat, a cow or even a camel,” said Akoko. To address this, his study insists on interviewing the patient to understand the very animals they interact with, what kind of meat they eat and also the milk they take so as to know the target for vaccination.Through the consortium, Akoko is linked to supervisors based in Kenya, Tanzania and Switzerland. “We coordinate through skype meetings, emails, workshops and even conferences,” said the researcher.Other researchers are focusing on major steps towards elimination of rabies in Africa.“There is evidence that rabies can be eliminated. But we have not been able to do it,” said Bonfoh.The scientists are therefore involved in efforts to eliminate rabies in Tanzania, Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire using an all inclusive e approach of ‘One health.’“Governments need to take up the fight against these important diseases, which affect mostly the poor,” said Bonfoh. “But the problem has been that nearly all governments focus on priority diseases while neglecting some very important ones,” he said.

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - African Civil society organisations (CSO’s) have raised concerns on lack of follow up and implementation of environmental policies by African governments.In a statement to the 7th special session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN), the CSOs observed the need to move away from talk shows where policies are discussed but little or nothing is done in terms of implementation.With reference to the theme of this year’s AMCEN, “turning environmental policies into action through innovative solutions”, the CSOs called for coordinated approaches in the implementation of activities, and avoid a stand-alone working culture by government ministries, which they said, was currently the case in most African countries.They bemoaned most governments’ insistence on the top to bottom approaches and disjointed policy implementation.“We have been part of this process for a long time and having policies after policies at both local and national levels but what we have had challenges with is how to implement these policies,” said Mithika Mwenda, Secretary General of the Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA). “It doesn’t matter so much that we meet every year and do a declaration, what we are looking at is how to put these issues into action.”Citing the food systems sector, the CSOs urged governments to embrace innovations that link agriculture to all related natural resources and environmental management policies.“We urge governments to link agriculture policies to land tenure systems, farmer cooperatives, extension and advisory services and adopt policies that allow small scale farmers to get easy access to farmland, integrating policies for national security such as export policies, energy policy, water policy, seed policy, post-harvest wastage, health of soils and organic methods such as Agro ecology,” read part of the statement.And in support of addressing the perennial market access challenge especially among smallholder farmers, the CSOs believe the promotion of public- private partnerships and platforms in marketing of agricultural products among government ministries, could help farmers move up the economic ladder.Another issue of concern for African CSOs, which formed part of their two day consultation prior to the AMCEN, is resource and waste management. Under this pillar, they called for life cycle approaches, urging governments to integrate informal sector such as private waste collectors into formal policies and laws, monitoring and promote the principles of extended producer responsibility and encourage take back schemes combined with financial incentives to encourage recycling programmes.“We further urge the governments to integrate sound waste management practices at school curricula and integrate these into education policies to encourage attitude change,” they said.And with the realisation that Africa was a net importer of goods and services, the CSOs called for development of a cost effective way of protecting Africans from chemical hazards in the imported goods.“To regulate such, we urge African ministers to support the establishment of a new global framework for plastic pollution and nominate African experts to the ad-hoc expert working group on marine litter and micro plastics mandated by UNEA 4,” they proposed.According to available statistics, air pollution…

NAIROBI, Kenya (PAMACC News) - It is imperative for African Civil Society Organisations (CSO) to advocate for innovative solutions to overcome environmental challenges facing Africa, UN Environment regional director for Africa, Juliette Biao Koudenoukpo said on Sunday. “This continent has the capacity and the knowledge to innovatively overcome our environmental challenges. We need to move faster from the ‘business as usual’ approach and devise ways and means to address issues such as rising energy costs, poverty, environmental degradation, pollution and social inequality or changes in legislation” Koudenoukpo told a cross-section of CSOs in Nairobi during a two-day consultations to prepare for the seventh special session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN) and the fourth session of the UN Environment Assembly. The meeting, co-organized by UN Environment and Pan African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA) brought together 120 participants from accredited organizations across Africa.“African countries need, more than any time before, to invest in innovative solutions to unlock its economic and social potential and create inclusive wealth for the wellbeing of their populations” she emphasized adding that innovation should happen at the policy, finance, market and partnership levels.“Remember that people, especially youth, should be at the heart of driving this process. Our youth have so many innovative ideas and initiatives that can make a difference in transforming our societies” Koudenoukpo said.The commitment and genuine involvement of all social groups are critical to the effective implementation of the policies and projects in the field of environment and sustainable development, Koudenoukpo said.

LAGOS, Nigeria (PAMACC News) - After two days of intensive deliberations on the best possible ways to tackle the menace of fall armyworm in Africa, representatives of the agriculture ministries from central and west African countries have been urged to come up with proposals on how an integrated approach to winning the war against fall armyworm in their respective countries can be achieved. This resolution heralded today’s closing ceremony at the high-level meeting on controlling fall armyworm in central and west African states which began yesterday in Yaoundé, the Cameroonian capital. Béninese minister for Agriculture, Livestock and Fishery, Hon. Gaston Cossi Dossouhoui who presided over the closing ceremony commended the organisers, notably the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Institute for Tropical Agriculture (IITA), for the rare opportunity given to central and west African states to brainstorm together and come up with proposals for possible funding and collaboration. Hon Dossouhoui urged the respective agriculture ministries from the two participating sub-regions to come up, within three months, with bankable proposals that can facilitate the implementation of the solutions proffered at the high-level meeting, taking into consideration, their respective national contexts and circumstances. A cocktail of solutions Some of the solutions proffered against the rampaging fall armyworm include awareness creation on holistic management of fall armyworm; training of stakeholders on the identification of fall armyworm; synchronising cropping calendar and timely planting; and broad-based dissemination of information via technologies (sms, apps, etc) The meeting also identified innovative solutions such as use of seeds, oil and leaf extracts of neem tree, (Neem oil emulsion at 5-20ml per plant); mixture of ash and sand on the whorl; use of botanical and synthetic pesticides; mixture of tithonia and piper emulsions; mixture of tobacco leaves and piper; push-pull technology; and the use of pheromone traps to monitoring and detection In addition to these, Dr. Winfred Hammond, a food security expert and resource person from Ghana, urged the member-states to also develop tools that are compatible with effective Integrated Pest Management (IPM) on fall armyworm. “Tools such as seed treatment; time of planting; use of pheromones; scouting for eggs and neonates; mechanically damaging eggs and neonates; bio-rationals and bio-control agents are effective in these efforts,” Dr. Hammond said. Technologies against fall armyworm The consensus of the meeting was a regional approach that emphasizes Integrated Pest and Disease Management (IPDM) required to contain fall armyworm. Immediate recommendations include awareness raising campaigns on fall armyworm symptoms, early detection and control, including beneficial agronomic practices; national preparation and communication of a list of recommended, regulated pesticides and bio pesticides and their appropriate application methods. Participants also agreed that work should start immediately to assess preferred crop varieties for resistance or tolerance to fall armyworm, introduce classical biological control agents from the Americas. A conducive policy environment should promote lower risk control options through short-term subsidies and rapid assessment and registration of bio pesticides and biological control products, they said. According to Jean-Baptiste Bahama of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the…