VZCZCXRO5327
RR RUEHMA RUEHPA
DE RUEHDK #0682/01 0851137
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 261137Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAKAR
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7939
INFO RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI 1267
RUEHZK/ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DAKAR 000682 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR OES/IHA, CA/OCS, AF/EPS AND AF/W 
NAIROBI FOR CDC/MARK KATZ 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO KFLU AMGT ASEC CASC KSAF SG
SUBJECT: SENEGAL - RELATIVELY WELL-PREPARED FOR AVIAN/PANDEMIC 
INFLUENZA 
 
REF: STATE 022991 AND SUBSEQUENT DAKAR-STATE E-MAILS 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: Senegal appears relatively well-prepared to cope with 
an outbreak of Avian and/or Pandemic Influenza (AIPI).  The 
Government of Senegal has an active AI working group and has hosted 
a number of AIPI conferences and exercises.  The USG has also hosted 
several regional seminars on AIPI in Dakar.  Surveillance for AI in 
the domestic and wild bird populations is active and ongoing, and 
local laboratory and medical facilities are the best in the region. 
More can be done to increase the capabilities of other West African 
countries to prepare for and deal with AIPI, specifically, offering 
workshops in English and Portuguese.  Workshops build capacity, pay 
diplomatic dividends, and establish the relationships that will 
allow us to offer effective assistance when AI appears.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  Background: Avian influenza appears to have largely spared West 
Africa thus far, with cases of AI in poultry confirmed in Cote 
d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria and Cameroon.  Despite 
concern about the West Africa's position along migratory bird 
routes, no cases in wild bird populations have been reported.  To 
date, only one human death has been attributed to AI so far, in 
Nigeria in January 2007. 
 
GOVERNMENT OF SENEGAL ACTIONS 
----------------------------- 
¶3.  The Government of Senegal is not relying on continuing good 
fortune, however, and has been admirably proactive in preparing for 
an AIPI outbreak.  There is a National Committee to Prevent and 
Fight AI (CONAGA), which includes representatives from the Prime 
Minister's Office and the Ministries of Livestock, Health, 
Environment and Protection of Nature, Interior, Armed Forces, 
Communications, and Commerce. 
 
¶4.  CONAGA conducted an AI field response simulation exercise 
November 4 through 8, 2006, in Somone, Senegal, attended by 
participants from 18 West Africa countries.  CONAGA also hosted a 
three-day workshop on AI prevention, March 19-21, in Dakar.  More 
than 60 participants from the scientific, NGO, professional, and 
public sectors participated.  In addition, CONAGA is performing 
active AI surveillance and has collected samples from chicken, 
domestic ducks, swine, horses and wild birds (serum, feces, tracheal 
swabs) from almost 500 animals since December 2006 in the St. Louis, 
Ziguinchor, and Fatick regions.  A sick bird from Dakar was also 
tested in February.  All samples have been tested negative to HPAI 
(AGID and PCR).  In March, CONAGA will collect samples in other 
regions.  A Peace Corps volunteer working in the bird sanctuary in 
Djoudj (near St. Louis in northern Senegal) has not reported any 
cases of ill or dying birds. 
 
¶5.  The Institut Pasteur in Dakar can test for the H5N1 virus, 
allowing for quick diagnosis if/when H5N1 appears in Senegal.  The 
medical care in Dakar is the best in the region. 
 
¶6.  The National veterinary laboratory (LNERV-ISRA) can test for 
H5N1 virus allowing for quick diagnosis when H5N1 appears in the 
poultry population.  The laboratory has a good cooperative 
relationship with FAO, which is using the laboratory as a regional 
training center. 
 
USG TRAINING AND OUTREACH 
------------------------- 
¶7.  USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) 
sponsored a workshop on International Avian Influenza Epidemiology 
for 27 senior veterinary epidemiologists from the veterinary 
services of 21 countries in western and central Africa in Dakar, 
March 5-9.  This seminar provided knowledge and strategies for 
participant nations to improve surveillance and diagnostic capacity 
for AI and other animal diseases of economic importance.  The APHIS 
epidemiologists not only conducted needed training but also worked 
with individual country epidemiologists to review and refine the 
design of their country's AI surveillance activities.  The 
International AI Epidemiology workshop is one of the many technical 
activities USDA-APHIS has sponsored for specialists from African 
veterinary services; this was the second in a series of three 
USDA-APHIS seminars in Europe/Africa/Middle East to discuss the 
design and implementation of epidemiological surveillance programs. 
 
¶8.  USDA has been actively involved with capacity building programs 
that include AI laboratory diagnostician's training, trans-boundary 
animal disease diagnosis as well as supplying reagents for the 
laboratory.  The USG will also supply a real time rt-PCR, 
sophisticated equipment that will further increase diagnostic 
capability. 
 
¶9.  The Public Affairs Section, in conjunction with Voice of 
America's Office of Development and International Media Training 
 
DAKAR 00000682  002 OF 002 
 
 
Team, hosted a two-day informational workshop in Dakar on avian 
influenza issues for Francophone West African journalists March 
14-15.  VOA trainers and scientific experts discussed AI basics with 
an emphasis on generating informed and accurate news coverage on the 
topic, especially if/when there is an H5N1 outbreak.  Twenty-one 
participants attended, representing Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, 
Central African Republic, Congo (Brazzaville), Cote d'Ivoire, 
Djibouti, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal 
(Dakar and Saint-Louis) and Togo.  Ambassador Janice Jacobs, who 
opened the workshop with an overview of USG support for global 
efforts in countering the spread of AIPI, and APHIS gave a 
presentation to the group. 
 
¶10.  Workshop participants agreed to establish an African 
journalists' network to share information on AI issues.  Within 
three days the event generated more than two dozen article 
placements in Senegalese media, including articles on the March 14 
USDA-FAO agreement on coordinating technical assistance in response 
to AIPI. 
 
¶11.  The Center for Disease Control's (CDC's) Nairobi office 
conducted AI Rapid Response Training in Dakar March 5-8.  Forty-one 
participants from eight Francophone African countries participated, 
including clinicians, medical epidemiologists, veterinarians, 
laboratory technicians, and communications specialists.  It was a 
train-the-trainer exercise focusing on organizing a multi-sector 
response to an AI outbreak in poultry and/or humans.  Participants 
came from Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 
Cote d'Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Rwanda and Senegal. 
 
¶12.  Other mission offices have also been deeply involved in 
preparing for AI.  USAID's Economic Growth Office funded AI posters 
and leaflets, which CONAGA has distributed throughout the country. 
In conjunction with Catholic Relief Services, USAID has produced a 
television public-service announcement to educate the general 
population about AI.  This spot began airing the week of March 5; it 
includes tips for prevention and discusses how public alerts and 
quarantine would be used to control an outbreak.  The Embassy's 
Office of Defense Cooperation has requested from the U.S. European 
Command (EUCOM) 200 sets of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to 
be distributed to Senegalese military personnel who would be among 
the first responders in the event of an outbreak. 
 
¶13.  The Consular Section regularly includes AI information in its 
monthly e-mail newsletter to American citizens, including general AI 
information, safe food handling tips, shelter-in-place procedures, 
and links to the CDC and pandemicflu.gov websites.  We also 
forwarded Nigeria's warden message announcing the first AI human 
death in Africa.  AI was a primary focus of the Town Hall meeting on 
January 25 in Dakar that was attended by approximately 200 American 
citizens and a similar meeting in Bissau on March 22 that brought 
together 25 Americans.  The section also distributed AI posters to 
consular wardens. 
 
LOOKING FORWARD 
--------------- 
¶14.  Although the Western Coast of Africa has dodged AI so far, it 
is likely that AI will eventually appear in the region.  The World 
Health Organization mandates that AI cases in humans be reported to 
its regional office in Brazzaville.  The World Animal Health 
Organization (OIE) mandates that notifiable AI in birds be reported 
to the international headquarters in Paris, France.  With only a 
handful of medical epidemiologists to cover all of Sub-Saharan 
Africa, however, it is likely that the USG will first learn of AI 
cases directly from local and regional officials.  It is crucial 
that posts in the region cultivate and maintain excellent 
relationships with local human and animal health officials. 
 
¶15.  Embassy Dakar urges that AIPI training be expanded and offered 
in Portuguese and English.  Lusophone African countries including 
Cape Verde and Guinea-Bissau could all participate in a single 
workshop.  Anglophone workshops conducted in West Africa would reach 
West African officials and institutions who were unable to attend 
sessions in East Africa, such as the seminar CDC conducted for 
Anglophone East African countries in September 2007.  AIPI training 
such as the APHIS, CDC, and VOA workshops pay valuable public 
diplomacy dividends in addition to sharing up-to-date technical and 
strategic knowledge.  Perhaps more important, such workshops 
cultivate USG and post relationships with local officials, making it 
more likely that the USG will receive early notice of AI cases, 
allowing us to offer assistance to help stop AI outbreaks before 
they become widespread. 
 
JACOBS