The Southern African Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine (SASVEPM) is pleased to announce its 21st Annual Congress, which will take place from 21 to 23 August 2024 at the Lagoon Beach Hotel, Cape Town.
Epi for Africa: Global Problems | Local Solutions
Africa is arguably the continent at highest risk from infectious diseases, but often struggles to implement internationally recommended veterinary surveillance and control measures successfully. This is not only due to severe resource limitations and lack of capacity, but also inexorably linked to the highly heterogeneous nature of our terrain, peoples, animals, and climate. To truly understand the complex eco-epidemiological landscapes of Africa requires creative approaches to data collection and disease surveillance, holistic control measures, participatory approaches, interdisciplinary efforts, and community involvement.
This year’s SASVEPM congress features the unique problems and circumstances faced in animal health and welfare on the African continent and explores practical and sustainable local and regional solutions. We believe that only by developing Afro-centric approaches to address global problems will we have a chance at finding the sustainable solutions we need to flourish as a continent.
The 21st SASVEPM congress serves as a strong multinational networking platform to build and foster collaborative research and enhance communication across disciplines, professions, and sectors. Join us for this exciting event which brings together veterinarians, para-veterinarians, and researchers from the southern African region and beyond. Participants interested in presenting oral or poster presentations are invited to submit abstracts under the theme “Epi for Africa: Global Problems | Local Solutions”.
IMPORTANT DATES
Our sponsors
A Late Registration surcharge of 6% will be added to all Regular registration rates from 12 August 2024
SASVEPM Pre-congress Workshop- Fully Sponsored by SASVEPM | |
Dates: 19- 20 August 2024 | |
Venue: Lagoon Beach Hotel, Cape Town | |
Facilitators: Dr Alison Baratang Lubisi, BVMch, MSc, PhD | |
Dr Paidamwoyo Berry Mutowembwa, BVSc, MSc | |
Coordinator: Dr Wonderful Shumba, SASVEPM Capacity Building Officer | |
1. Pre-Congress Workshop Title: | |
Essential Practices in Veterinary Laboratory Biosafety and Veterinary | |
Method Validation | |
2. Goals: | |
· In-depth understanding of biosafety principles and risk management within veterinary laboratories. | |
· Develop attendees; ability to design and implement effective biosafety protocols. | |
· Provide comprehensive knowledge in method validation techniques specifically for veterinary diagnostic tests. | |
· Establish confidence in evaluating and interpreting validation data. | |
3. Target Audience: | |
· Veterinary laboratory technicians and professionals | |
· Veterinarians involved in laboratory diagnostics. | |
· Laboratory quality managers | |
· Researchers in veterinary sciences | |
Day 1: Veterinary Laboratory Biosafety | Day 2: Veterinary Method Validation Techniques |
Morning Session: Biosafety Fundamentals | Morning Session: Method Validation Principles |
Introduction to Biosafety Concepts: Key definitions, risk groups, biosafety levels, containment principles. | Understanding Method Validation: Definitions, purpose, and key steps in the process. |
Regulatory Landscape: Overview of international and local (South African) regulations and guidelines governing veterinary laboratory biosafety (e.g., OIE standards, others relevant to South Africa). | Regulatory guidelines and standards (e.g., OIE,DALRRD, ISO/IEC 17025). |
Risk Assessment and Mitigation: Practical exercises in identifying potential hazards, assessing risks, and designing proportionate control measures in various veterinary lab scenarios. | Key Validation Parameters: Accuracy, precision (repeatability, reproducibility), specificity, sensitivity, limits of detection/quantification, linearity, robustness. |
Validation Study Design: Experimental design principles, statistical considerations, and sample size determination. | |
Afternoon Session: Hands-on Biosafety Practices | Afternoon Session: Practical Method Validation |
Personal Protective Equipment: Proper selection, donning, doffing, and disposal. | Data Analysis and Interpretation: How to use different statistical tools for evaluating validation data and setting acceptable performance criteria. |
Laboratory Design and Workflow: Best practices for maximizing safety, | Designing validation experiments: sample selection, replicates, controls. |
Statistical analysis of validation data. | |
Incident Response and Emergency Preparedness: Developing protocols for spills, exposures, and other emergencies. Real-world case studies to illustrate best practices. | Documentation, validation reports, and continuous monitoring. Best practices for documenting validation studies according to regulatory requirements and scientific standards |
Case Studies in Method Validation and Group work: In-depth examples focusing on common veterinary diagnostic tests, exploring challenges and solutions. | |
Dr. Nenene Qekwana
Dr. Daniel Nenene Qekwana (BSc, BVSc, MMedVet, PhD) is a recognized specialist in veterinary public health and an associated professor in the Department of Paraclinical Sciences at the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria where he is involved in teaching and training of undergraduate and postgraduate students in epidemiology, food safety, zoonotic diseases, and public health. After completing his PhD in epidemiology, he has conducted research on various topics including spatio-temporal changes in disease outbreaks, drivers of antimicrobial resistance in humans and animals, and the impact of policy decision/formulation from a justice perspective.
Dr. Qekwana is currently the Head of the Department of Paraclinical Sciences and a member of the Faculty of Veterinary Sciences research ethics committee. He has served as part of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Antimicrobial Resistance (MAC-AMR) until the end of 2023 and continues to serve as a member of the Gauteng Provincial Antimicrobial Stewardship Committee.
Dr. Anne Conan
Dr. Anne Conan is a researcher in epidemiology at the French Agricultural Research and International Cooperation Organization (CIRAD, France) and is attached to the Research Platform - Production and Conservation in Partnership (RP-PCP) based at the University of Zimbabwe. She specializes in infectious diseases and zoonoses in low-income areas.
Her main research topics include the surveillance of infectious diseases at the wildlife interface, the consequences of intensification of chicken farming in Asia (One Health Poultry Hub), the epidemiology of African swine fever in pigs, the epidemiology of Coxiella burnetii in humans and livestock, and the control of rabies in humans and dogs. She is a research fellow at the One Health Research Foundation.
Dr. Conan completed her DVM and MSc in epidemiological surveillance in 2008. She worked at the Public Health and Epidemiology Department in Pasteur Institute in Cambodia for five years. After completing her PhD in Epidemiology in 2013, Dr Conan started a post-doctorate fellowship at the Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases at the University of Pretoria (South Africa). She then joined Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine (St. Kitts and Nevi, West Indies) in 2015 as a post-doctorate fellow before becoming an Assistant Professor in Epidemiology. After spending three years at City University of Hong Kong as research assistant professor and then research associate professor, she joined CIRAD in November 2022.
Dr. Locksley Messam
Dr. Locksley Messam (BSc., Dr. Med. Vet., PhD ) is a tenured lecturer at University College Dublin’s School of Veterinary Medicine. He is a veterinary epidemiologist with both methods-related and applied research interests, including epidemiologic study design, the validation and application of diagnostic tests and the effects of human-animal interactions on human health and wellbeing. A staunch advocate of the application of epidemiologic approaches to study design, data analysis and inferences, he maintains that studies claiming to be epidemiologic in nature, should be designed, conducted, and make inferences in ways that are recognisably consistent with the central concepts and methods of the discipline.
Having conducted research in Europe, North America and the Caribbean, Dr. Messam has substantial experience in the efficient conduct of epidemiologic studies requiring empirical data collection in a variety of cultural contexts. A native Jamaican, he is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, University of Veterinary Sciences, Hungary, and the University of California Davis, USA, where he did his undergraduate, veterinary and doctoral studies, respectively. A firm believer that formal training in epidemiology is invaluable to grasping the discipline’s approach to inference, he has taught epidemiology to veterinary and graduate students in the Caribbean, North America and Europe and has conducted a number of workshops on epidemiologic methods at the Society for Veterinary Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine’s (SVEPM) conferences. Since 2022, Dr. Messam has also been a member of SVEPM’s executive committee.
You can find out more about Dr. Messam on his webpage: https://people.ucd.ie/locksley.messam
Lagoon Beach Hotel, Cape Town
Indulge in magnificent views of Table Mountain over the Atlantic Ocean while situated on the beautiful Lagoon Beach, only 8.6km from Cape Town’s central business district and the V&A Waterfront – a hub of activity any time of the year. For hotels in Cape Town, look no further than Lagoon Beach Hotel as it is located just 18km from Cape Town International Airport.
Website: https://www.lagoonbeachhotel.co.za/
Accommodation Rates:
- R1650.00 – Classic Single Room (B&B) – | R1950 – Classic Sharing (B&B) per room, per night
Abstract Format
Title: The title should be concise and clearly reflect the content of your abstract. Use a font size and style that is consistent with the conference guidelines.
Introduction: Provide a brief introduction that outlines the background and context of your research or study. Clearly state the research question or objective.
Methods: Describe the methods and techniques used in your research. Explain how you conducted the study, collected data, and analysed it. Be concise but provide enough detail for reviewers to understand your approach.
Results: Present the key findings of your research. Use graphs, tables, or other visual aids if applicable and allowed by the conference guidelines. Highlight the most important results and their significance.
Discussion: Interpret the results and discuss their implications. Explain how your findings contribute to the field or address the research question. Discuss any limitations of your study.
Conclusion: Summarize the main conclusions of your research. State the practical or theoretical implications of your work.
*Please note: Abstract format guidelines do not apply to special sub-theme submissions.
Abstract Requirements
- Abstracts must not exceed a 300-word limit. The word limit relates only to the text of the abstract and does not include title, authors and institutions.
- Use single line spacing.
- Tables, figures or images are permitted.
- Use Arial size 12 throughout the abstract. Abstracts must be fully justified, free of typographical and grammatical errors.
- Standard abbreviations may be used for common terms only. Otherwise, any abbreviation should be given in brackets after the first full use of the word. Abbreviations may be used in the title, provided the name in full is outlined in the body of the abstract.
- You will be asked to provide a short biography (up to 150 words) with your submission.
- You will be asked to nominate your preference for poster or 15 minute oral presentation.
- Please include degrees or professional titles (e.g. Dr, Prof., etc).
- It is the author’s responsibility to ensure the title, author and affiliation details entered in the paper submission site are correct and exactly as they should be published on the abstract and all congress materials.
- Consent/permission from contributing authors should be sought by the submitting author prior to submission.
Conference Organiser
conferences@vetlink.co.za
012 346 1590
