A Consultative workshop on Promoting Regional Integration in the Control of Tsetse and Trypanosomosis (T&T) in the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) took place on 6-7 August 2018 at Ngonemono Hotel, in Libreville, Gabon. The meeting was attended by ECCAS member states, including Cameroon, Congo, Gabon, DRC and Chad. In addition, three staff members from the AU-PATTEC coordination office, a consultant from ECCAS, a non-tsetse transmitted trypanosomosis expert and the Livestock Director of CEBEVIRHA attended the meeting. The meeting was started by welcome remarks by Director of the Institute of Public Hygiene and Sanitation of Gabon, Mr. EDZANG ZO'O Valère; Dr Gift Wiseman Wanda, Acting AU-PATTEC Coordinator and Dr. BASCHIROU MOUSSA Demsa, Animal Resources Consultant at ECCAS.

The overall objective of the meeting was to strengthen ownership of PATTEC at the regional level and identify sustainable funding and coordination mechanisms for T&T interventions. The specific objective includes to promote the development of an integrated strategy at ECCAS level covering the mechanisms of tsetse and trypanosomosis control interventions in regular/normative programs in the region; to select priority areas for regional projects in Central Africa based on feasibility studies and existing capacities; to identify priority areas on T&T issues that require joint AU-PATTEC/ ECCAS planning and programming; to identify sustainable funding and coordination mechanisms for T&T interventions at the regional level; to identify stakeholders to share information and harmonize tsetse and trypanosomosis control interventions in the ECCAS region; and to establish a regional technical working group of T&T experts.

The meeting ended by putting the following recommendations to ECCAS and CEMAC Commission, AU-PATTEC and ECCAS Partner States:
To Member States
• Continue to implement T&T control activities;
• Mobilize additional human, material and financial resources to support actions to combat T&T.
• Formalize the appointment of the focal points in all countries

To ECCAS and CEMAC
• Contribute to the mobilization of financial resources in the fight against T&T and more specifically for the financing of the future sub-regional joint T & T control project;
• ensure the institutionalisation of the coordination of the PATTEC initiative at the regional level;
• Operationalize the regional center for animal health

To AU-PATTEC Coordination Office
• Continue to support regional economic communities (RECs) and member countries in the implementation of the PATTEC initiative;
• operationalize the PATTEC coordination mechanism at the regional level;
• Organize a workshop to develop the sub-regional project on improving agricultural productivity by eradicating T&T at the CEBEVIRHA headquarters in N'Djamena, Chad, in 2019