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Welcome to the COSALFA 47

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Dear observing participants of COSALFA 47 

The current pandemic by COVID-19 and the restrictions of the public health preclude the 47th Ordinary Meeting of the South American Commission for the Fight against Foot-and-Mouth Disease (COSALFA47), scheduled to be held from 20-24 April 2020 in Mendoza, Argentina, in its traditional format.

The Director of the Pan American Foot-and-Mouth Disease Center of the Pan American Health Organization (PANAFTOSA/PAHO) and the National Director of Animal Health in SENASA, Argentina, as the host country of the meeting, gathered to consider alternatives that will allow to perform the 47th COSALFA in a virtual format. Please find enclosed the amended provisional agenda. In this opportunity, we inform that the International Seminar Pre COSALFA will not be held.

In recognition of the importance of ensuring the continuity of COSALFA's governance in this crucial period, the COSALFA meeting will be held on a virtual platform on 27-28 August 2020.

In 2020, culminates the Hemispheric Program for the Eradication of Foot-and-Mouth Disease (PHEFA) Action Plan 2011-2020, the outstanding and solid progress observed in the course of the current action plan, where the entire territory of the Americas, with the exception of one country, has reached and preserved the official status granted by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), as free of foot-and-mouth disease with or without vaccination, an only one area of the South American region has lagged behind without achieving recognition of its epidemiological condition of foot-and-mouth. Consequently, the region must, on the one hand, prioritize its efforts towards the elimination of foot-and-mouth disease in those areas with a remaining infection and on the other, complete the eradication process, making the transition to the status of free without vaccination in those free zones and countries that still maintain systematic vaccination cycles in their bovine populations.

In this context, COSALFA 47, as per its mandate, will analyze the current situation in accordance with the PHEFA Action Plan 2011-2020. Resolutions should be adopted to enhance the efficiency of regional technical cooperation in advancing those territories, which are not FMD-free, to mitigate the remaining risks of FMD virus infection, thus ensuring significant progress towards the eradication achieved in the present decade.

COSALFA is formed by 26 representatives of 13 countries of the American Continent, namely, one representative of the public sector, the Official Veterinary Service Director, and one of the private sector, representing the highest national association of livestock producers. The 13 countries of the American Continent are Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Venezuela, and Uruguay.

COSALFA is promoted by the Pan-American Foot-and-Mouth Disease Center (PANAFTOSA) of the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) with the support from the Government of Argentina Republic, represented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (MAGyP), through its National Agri-food Health and Quality Service (SENASA).

Sincerely yours,

47th COSALFA Organizing Committee

               Realization