Rabies in West Africa, 2021

The 7th International Conference on Rabies in West Africa (RIWA) holds a virtual meeting from 3rd to 6th May 2021, to deliberate on the theme, “Is the Global Goal of Rabies Elimination by 2030 Achievable in Africa in General and West Africa in Particular Within the Current Landscape of Policy and Prevention Strategies, Complicated by COVID-19 Pandemic?” The event brings internationally renowned experts to present scientific and technical papers, and to provide one-to-one advice and support for actualizing the global set goal for rabies elimination in Africa by 2030. Participants are drawn from all over the world, particularly the fifteen countries of ECOWAS. Practical strategies for mass canine vaccination will be a major post-conference follow-up activity in some of the countries where their Stepwise Actions for Rabies Elimination (SARE) reports seem not encouraging. This effort is designed to prop up the whole sub-region into actions that will improve the level of SARE for countries within the sub-region. Technical assistance was offered by the University of Queensland, Australia; the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, and the Regional Animal Health Center for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), Bamako, Mali. Lead presentations were given by well-established scholars in rabies, virologists and epidemiologists, and experts from the WHO, OIE, and FAO. Also, private donors and rabies concern groups presented papers in view of their experiences. The main goal of this congregation is to find a way forward to make sure the global goal of rabies zero tolerance does not fail in West Africa in particular. The conference is co-hosted by Njala University, Njala, Sierra Leone; the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry; the Ministry of Health and Sanitation; and the Ministry of Environment, Freetown, Sierra Leone.

The conference chairperson, Dr. Babasola O. Olugasa and Dr. Philip Mshelbwala