West Africa goes digital to track livestock disease
Vets from across the region have adopted a shared online system for reporting outbreaks of diseases that cross borders with the herds.
Lomé — West African veterinary chiefs have adopted a shared electronic system for reporting animal disease, so that an outbreak in one country is seen quickly by its neighbours.
The platform, the Regional Animal Health Information System, was reviewed and adopted at the annual meeting of the region's animal health networks in Lomé on 6 October.
Diseases that do not stop at borders
Herds in West Africa move across frontiers with the seasons, and disease moves with them. The meeting focused on five threats:
- peste des petits ruminants, which kills sheep and goats;
- contagious bovine pleuropneumonia, a lung disease of cattle;
- foot-and-mouth disease;
- avian influenza;
- rabies.
Some of these can also infect people.
'No country can succeed on its own'
"In the face of these health threats, no country can succeed on its own," said Dindiogue Konlani, chief of staff to Togo's agriculture minister. "The fight against animal diseases is, by its very nature, a matter of solidarity and collective action."
The ECOWAS representative in Togo, Deweh Emily Gray, said the aim was a community "capable of anticipating health crises, detecting threats early, sharing information quickly, and responding in a coordinated and effective manner".
Heads of veterinary services from ECOWAS and Sahel countries took part, with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the African Union's animal resources bureau and the West African Health Organization.
Source: ECOWAS Commission, 7 October 2026.
