OBJECTIVES

The main aim of ECHINO-SAFE-MED is to implement the pasture-based livestock farming systems by delivering sustainable and cost-effective tools, as well as innovative strategies to control cystic echinococcosis (CE) in sheep farms with the final goal to improve health, welfare and productivity of small ruminant livestock sector in the Mediterranean regions. This will be obtained by the use of high throughput diagnostic, surveillance and control strategies in order to establish guidelines for sustainable CE control to be further extended to other endemic Mediterranean areas, thus increasing agro-livelihood, income and satisfaction by farmers in these regions.

With this as the main tenet, ECHINO-SAFE-MED has 3 macro-objectives as summarized below:  

A: To develop novel diagnostic tools for early detection of cystic echinococcosis in sheep in Mediterranean countries of Europe (i.e. France, Greece and Italy) and transfer these methodologies to Mediterranean areas in North Africa (i.e. Algeria and Tunisia)

B: To improve surveillance and control activities for CE in Mediterranean areas throught the use of innovative sustainable strategies to be applied in highly endemic areas

C: To strengthen capacity for CE diagnosis, surveillance and control in both Africa and Europe through training & effective communication of project outcomes to project partners and relevant stakeholders, policy makers and end-users.

ECHINO-SAFE-MED will achieve its aims through the following specific objectives (SO):

SO 1: to develop and harmonize new tools for the early diagnosis of cystic echinococcosis in sheep based on easy-to-use in field diagnostic techniques

SO 2: to improve CE surveillance in the Mediterranean area using Geographical Information Systems (GIS)

SO 3: to perform active surveillance in the selected sheep farms using innovative diagnostic tools

SO 4: to assess the use of GPS datalogger to understand the micro-epidemiology of echinococcosis in order to apply strategic control activities

SO 5: to validate the use of the EG95 recombinant vaccine for the first time in the selected Mediterranean countries using two different vaccination programs

SO 6: to perform control strategies based on the vaccination of lambs and treatment of shepherd dogs

SO 7: to implement the treatment of stray canids based on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)

SO 8: to strengthen CE surveillance and control through capacity building and training activities

SO 9: to disseminate acquired knowledge and skills to decision makers, end-users and local communities

SO 10: to translate generated knowledge and tools to the health policy makers to ultimately reach recommendations on CE control in the Mediterranean area.