FAO-OIE Global Conference on Peste des Petits Ruminants

JOINT FAO-OIE-EU MEDIA ADVISORY

Global Conference on eradicating Peste des petits ruminants (also known as sheep and goat plague)

6-7 September 2018| Albert Borschette Conference Centre, Brussels, Belgium

Countries and development partners will discuss the importance of disease eradication to achieve food security

Over 150 participants, including ministers and other high-level officials from countries affected and at-risk of Peste des petits ruminants (PPR), as well as international organizations, veterinarians and private sector representatives will gather at the Global Conference organized in Brussels by the European Union, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Organisation for Animal health (OIE).

Conference participants are expected to reaffirm a global commitment to eradicate the disease by 2030.

In the past two decades, PPR has spread rapidly, mostly in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. The disease causes more than $2 billion in losses each year and threatens the food and nutritional security of millions of vulnerable households who raise sheep and goats in the affected regions. Sheep and goats are critical assets for poor rural households, providing protein, milk, fertilizer, wool and fiber, as well as often representing essential social capital and access to financial credit.

The Conference, which is titled “Partnering and investing for a Peste des petits ruminants-free world” will be a two-day event, beginning on 6 September with a Stakeholders Forum which will focus on technical issues and challenges related to national disease eradication policies.

The main session of the Conference will take place on 7 September with opening statements by:

• Neven Mimica, European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development

• José Graziano da Silva, Director-General Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

• Monique Eloit, Director-General, World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)

The conference will be livestreamed on the Conference’s page and on www.fao.org/webcast/home/en/

More information and the programme of the two days can be found at the Global Conference page:
www.fao.org/ppr/globalconference/en