Seychellois and Kenyan experts will soon be able to use a national biological risk assessment tool to identify key areas that would benefit from national biological risk assessment scenarios.
A group of 30 experts in various fields from both countries ranging from health to agriculture are attending a five-day workshop at the Savoy Resort and Spa, in the northern Mahe district of Beau Vallon.
They are the key players in their respective countries who respond in instances of biological incidents as they already work in the areas concerned with human, animal and environmental health.
This is part of the European Union chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) and Centres of Excellence Project 99, which involves building capacity, and ensuring preparedness and containment in Eastern and Central African countries' biological incidents.
The 11 member countries, which include Seychelles, Kenya, and Burundi, are currently working on determining areas where biological incidents may occur in the coming five years.
"This training will help us map our risks, as we can see there is so much development happening that risks can be chemical or radiology or even biological," explained Seychelles' representative, Dr. Jimmy Melanie.
This workshop is specifically dealing with biological risks, which include illnesses in animals that may affect human health.
Melanie said, "We are also taking into account toxins from plants, viruses, or bacteria that may have adverse effects on people's health."
He explained that Seychelles will have to identify the risks that it faces although he mentioned illnesses from animals such as the bird flu that can harm humans.
"We have to work on these to prepare ourselves should there ever be a situation, we know that the policies have been decided on so that we as technicians can now take the appropriate steps," added Melanie.
Before the workshop was held in Seychelles, the experts attended a training session in Nairobi, Kenya, in June this year, where the national biological risk assessment tool was introduced.
The project will go on until 2026, and it is only then that the experts will "be in a better position to help the authorities to develop a list of the biological risks that we feel we might be faced with," said Melanie.
The European Commission is funding the project and United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) is assisting with the outreach to the national focal points and experts in the eleven project countries.
Project 99 team leader, Scott Spence, said that at the end of the workshop, the participants "will be able to identify potential emerging biological threats and risks in the short and medium term."
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During the five days, the experts will also think of the worst-case scenarios of outbreaks and how they will deal with them.
"Probably one scenario will be what is the likelihood of a pandemic happening in the next five years and what will be the impacts for the Seychelles and Kenya," said the project's key expert, Joris Sprokholt.
He added that the information gathered in the workshop "is very important information for all the different stakeholders such as non-governmental organisations and expert groups like veterinarians."
Sprokholt said that during the workshop the experts will embrace the 'one health perspective'. This an approach that recognises the close connection between the health of humans, animals, plants, and the environment.
