Fondation Mérieux to manage rabies network for Eastern Europe/Middle East

Fondation Mérieux is pleased to announce that it has been appointed to coordinate the Middle East & Eastern Europe Rabies Experts Bureau (MEEREB), an endeavour that is an integral part of the global strategy for the fight against rabies. The objective of this group (working as an implementation platform in cooperation with other regional initiatives in Asia and Africa coordinated by GARC) is to unveil the epidemiological situation of rabies in these regions and to share the experiences and problems encountered in clinical practice in order to implement the best prevention and control activities.

Amongst the MEEREB activities carried out this year, rabies experts from eleven Middle East, North Africa and Eastern European countries (Croatia, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Tajikistan, Romania, Serbia, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Ukraine) met in April 2015 in Lyon, France alongside key stakeholders from the Pasteur Institute, OIE, FAO, WHO and GARC. They discussed the rabies situation in their respective countries, identified strategies, initiated intercountry dialogue, highlighted the importance of dog-mediated rabies and fostered a OneHealth approach to prevent and control the disease in their regions.

Other activities included the promotion of World Rabies Day (WRD) activities with GARC’s support; nine countries organized WRD activities with successful engagement from key stakeholders from animal and human sectors. We look forward to fine-tuning the work that started this year with the MEEREB network and to fostering collaborations with key bodies in the rabies arena.

Contributed by Valentina Picot, Fondation Mérieux Research Advisor and Coordinator of the MEEREB network. You can follow the activity of the network on their website: www.meereb.info, which includes the report from the April meeting.