1. OIE Laboratory Twinning
Keith Hamilton
Second Global Conference of OIE Reference Laboratories and Collaborating Centres

2. This was the reason for establishing twinning

4. or sphere of competence
Twinning
Each project is a link between an OIE Reference Laboratory or Collaborating Centre (‘parent’) and a national laboratory wishing to improve capacity and expertise (‘candidate’) for an OIE listed disease
or sphere of competence

5. Prerequisites
Parent must be an OIE Reference Laboratory or Collaborating Centre
Candidate must have potential to provide support
Project needs full support of Veterinary Services
Must have OIE RL status
Candidate must have potential to provide support to other countries in its region and to meet the mandate of the RL. This includes being able to receive samples from other countries
For the project and benefits to be sustainable it must be fully supported by the VS. Without the mid to long term political and financial commitment of the VS the project will not be sustainable

6. Aims and objectives Improve compliance with OIE standards
Improve access to high quality diagnostics for more OIE Members
Eventually for Candidates to apply for ‘reference’ status
To help countries to enter scientific debate on an equal footing with others
To improve the ability of the CL to meet OIE international standards laid out in the codes and the OIE quality standard – all twinning projects should include generic subjects like Quality Management and Biosafety/biosecurity.
Improved compliance – harmonisation of procedures globally – comparable results, more confidence in lab test results
Ultimate aim is for some CLs to apply successfully for RL status. But we are realistic and know that this won’t happen in all cases. But twinning should bring CL closer to RL status.
To develop sceintific networks and capacity in countries so that developing and transition countries can debate scientific standards on an even footing with other countries

7. Aims and objectives (networking)
To form long and lasting links between institutes
Extend the OIE network of expertise to provide better global geographical coverage for priority diseases in priority areas
Strengthen global disease surveillance networks
To strengthen national scientific networks
The links that are formed between the labs should last long after the project is over, and communication should continue long after. Labs should be committed to this when they go into a twinning project
Of course the ultimate aim is to extend the OIE network of expertise in a strategic way. Priorité disease might be endemic production disease in the region, a zoonoses, or a disease of trade – providing capacity for pre export testing can help with poverty alleviation
This better global coverage of expertise will of course lead to better global disease surveillance with more confidence in surveillance results
As well as strengthening
Priority disease might be endemic production disease in the region, a zoonoses, or a disease of trade – providing capacity for pre export testing can help with poverty alleviation
Qnd of course by strengthening these links we develp better global disease surveillance networks.

8. Support from OIE
To support the link, facilitating transfer of technical capacity and expertise
Encourage and assist in coordinating with other capacity building projects
Support from OIE covers:
Flights, workshops, exchanges of experts, per diems
Meeting costs
Laboratory consumables directly related to training (up to a limit)
Assessment of Candidate’s material needs
Equipment, infrastructure, and bench fees are not covered

9. A range of projects Specific diseases Multiple diseases
(CSF/rabies; AI/ND; PPR/FMD/SGP)
Topics – epidemiology, veterinary medicinal products, molecular diagnostics, food safety
Twinning projects can either be for specific OIE listed diseases, multiple diseases when the Parent institute has several OIE RLs covering different diseases or if a couple of Parent labs team up:
For CC can be for a designated sphere of competence, or RL may choose a horizontal topic such as molecular testing

10. Ongoing updates to twinning guide
Possibility of involving more than one Parent or Candidate in a twinning project
Where possible develop synergies between twinnings and other capacity building projects
A limit on the number of twinning projects per laboratory
Assistance with finding complementary funds from other donors and avoid duplication
Possibility of richer countries funding their own OIE twinning project
In light of experience and feedback are continually updating our guidance;
Latest updates:
More than 1 P or C although primary link between 1 P and C possibility to involve
Many different lab capacity building programmes from different donors, organisations – OIE is flexible and encourages synergy between twinning and these other programmes. Some provide different support to twinning i.e. for equipment/hardware. Good eg is Botswana for AI where we developed a joint action plan with FAO
Some labs over committed and were having difficulty managing their twinnings so we set a limit that a RL can only run 2 twinnings at the same time. Of xourse many institutions have more than 1 RL.
Mentioned that there are various actors providing support. If a twinning lab needs some funds for things that will complement twinning but is not covered by twinning, OIE will use its network to look for these funds
OIE funds are available to support developing and transition countries. However there is still a need to develop capacity in some rich countries, and twinning could be a good way of doing this. So labs in rich countries can also apply for twinning with funds coming from the beneficiary country; the project will still be managed as an OIE twinning project

11. The application process
Expression of interest (Parent, Candidate, or both)
Initial feedback from OIE
Draft proposal (template provided)
Comments from one of the OIE Standards Commissions (Aquatic or Biological)
OIE clears administrative aspects
Signed letters of support from OIE Delegate and Laboratory Directors
Contract signed and project starts

12. Progress Concept launched at Florianopolis in 2006
First project started in November 2007
Situation in 2010:
1 project complete
30 projects approved
20 of these are underway
At least 10 more in the pipeline

14. OIE laboratory twinning projects
Completed projects or those that are underway by OIE region of Candidate Laboratory
Middle East (4) (0.20)
Americas (6) (0.20)
African region (9) (0.17)
Asia, the Far East, and Oceania (3) (0.09)
European region (3) (0.06)
(ratio of Candidate Laboratories/countries in the region)

15. Trends For projects that are complete or are underway:
Candidate Laboratories
Largest no. /country - Americas and Middle East
Fewest no. /country - Europe
Parent Laboratories
Largest no. /country - Europe
Fewest no. /country Asia, the Far East, and Oceania

16. Subject
8 (about 40%) Twinning Projects underway are for avian influenza and Newcastle disease.
3 projects for brucellosis and 3 projects for rabies.
Only one of the projects is for an aquatic animal disease.

17. Conclusions
Countries in all 5 OIE regions are benefiting from OIE Laboratory Twinning.
Most beneficiary Candidate laboratories are regions with the lowest density of OIE Reference Laboratories.
OIE Laboratory Twinning is addressing the current bias in the geographical distribution of OIE Reference Laboratories.
Greatest contribution to OIE Laboratory Twinning is being made by OIE Reference Laboratories in the European region

18. Conclusions
Avian influenza and Newcastle disease are the most popular topics for OIE Laboratory Twinning. This trend is changing as other priority diseases are addressed.
There are currently no twinning projects underway for some priority diseases such as Rift Valley fever.
Aquatic animal diseases are currently under represented in the OIE Twinning Programme.

19. The way forward Once each project is over Audit of individual projects
Benefits need to be sustained
Candidate needs to actively engage with international scientific community
Audit of individual projects
Assessment of overall programme
Listen to feed back