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May 28, 2007
The First African Symposium on Avian Pandemic Influenza and Anti-Virals took place on the 7th and 8th of May, 2007 in Abuja, Nigeria. Concurrent with the Symposium, ICAV ran a training workshop on AIV genomics and bioinformatics.
The Symposium, attended by over 200 scientists and experts from Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, Nigeria, Canada, USA, Germany, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, Senegal and China, was organized in conjunction with the World Bank, the WHO, and the Nigerian Federal Ministries of Health, Agriculture and Water Development, and Information and Communications. The Symposium was opened by the Honourable Minister of Health, Professor Eyitayo Lambo, and the Honourable Minister of State for Agriculture and Water Resources, Otunba Bamidele Dada. Professor Oyewale Tomori gave the keynote address. In total, over 30 presentations were given by Nigerian and international scientists and experts over the two days.
The parallel Bioinformatics Workshop was attended by 20 trainees from four African countries for instruction in AIV Genomics and Bioinformatics. The instructors, Chuong Hyunh of the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), Henry Wan of the Centre for Disease Control (CDC), Gavin J.D. Smith of Hong Kong University, and Oyekanmi Nash of the University of Ibadan, used this workshop as a pilot project; the same team will run workshops in Vietnam, Indonesia and Georgia in coming months.
The Symposium assembled African and international scientists to discuss the ramifications of the recent outbreaks of avian flu in poultry in Africa, as well as the first human case of the H5N1 influenza virus in sub-Saharan Africa, confirmed on 6 February, 2007. In an unprecedented step forward, the Symposium brought together scientists and physicians from both the agricultural and health disciplines. Experts from these often isolated fields used the Symposium as a chance to share knowledge and information and to foster future collaboration.
The Symposium also served to increase ICAV exposure and to facilitate the expansion of ICAV’s scientific network in Africa. Lassa fever, a virus discovered in Nigeria, was designated as a new ICAV target. In that respect, a new collaboration was facilitated between Dr. Rolf Hilgenfeld in Lübeck, Germany and the University of Lagos on Lassa fever.
To further reinforce ICAV’s presence in Africa and to build on the achievements of the Symposium, an ICAV African regional office will be established in Abuja in the coming months with Dr. Oyekanmi Nash as the Director. The Office will have a mandate to identify scientists and experts to participate in ICAV projects, to facilitate technology and information transfer, and to identify specific gaps in the African scientific environment where ICAV can add expertise. Dr. Abdulsalami Nasidi was appointed Chair of the Advisory Committee for the ICAV African regional office. The other members of the Advisory Committee are Dr. Ahmadou Sall, Dr. Jacob Barnor, Dr. Harrison Ofiyai, Dr. Lillian Odama and Dr. Oyewale Tomori.
ICAV itself has an International Steering Committee (ISC) made up of world renowned investigators from eleven countries. At the Abuja Symposium, Dr. Jeremy Carver, President and CEO of ICAV, announced that Professor Oyewale Tomori, Vice Chancellor of Redeemer’s University, Nigeria, had accepted an invitation to join the ICAV ISC.
A communiqué was presented at the end of the Symposium outlining a program to build on the success of the conference. Specifically, commitments were made to develop an African influenza sequence database and to integrate viral collections into a national depository. The communiqué also declared the Symposium’s collective support for the establishment of an ICAV African regional office and its goals.
ICAV would like to thank the partners that made this Symposium possible as well as the participants and presenters.
