Newcastle disease (ND) is the scourge of village poultry flocks throughout the developing world and has been identified as one of the major constraints to village poultry production in Africa. Vaccination is a key tool in the control of ND, however, it is costly, complex and challenging to implement effective, sustainable vaccination programs.
Sustainable ND control relies on the timely implementation of activities by well-trained and appropriately resourced personnel. AU-PANVAC together with Kyeema Foundation conducted a Pre-test of the Newcastle disease vaccine production and quality assurance courseat the AU-PANVAC facilitiesin DebreZeit, Ethiopia from 5 to 13November 2018. The purpose of course was to evaluate the training module and also provide participants with the knowledge and skills they need to:
• Plan, implement, evaluate and report on training in ND I-2 production and testing in countries that will embark on the vaccine production;
• Plan and implement laboratory trials of the vaccine;
• Oversee stability testing of the vaccine;
• Plan, implement, evaluate and report on training in cold chain management;
• Assist partner countries with vaccine registration, in particular giving guidance on Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and assisting with preparation of dossiers for registration;
• Plan and monitor vaccine production and testing (helping labs to identify strong points, weaknesses, opportunities and obstacles); and
• Undertake audits of vaccine production and testing.
A total of 10 participants drawn from 10 African countries, namely Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, , Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe participated in the training. Mentors were from Kyeema Foundation (Australia), Mozambique and AU-PANVAC.