The document outlines crisis management protocols for food safety and environmental crises. It discusses the basics of crisis management including legal frameworks, trained personnel, and surveillance systems. It emphasizes the important role of the health system in detecting outbreaks and the prerequisites for effective crisis management such as established reporting procedures and laboratory capacity. Good communication is also highlighted as critical support for crisis management. The document argues that each crisis is a learning experience and situations are always evolving, requiring adapted responses. It discusses how the ACE project aims to monitor emerging hazards and risks and could help update training to improve food safety compliance at the community level. Finally, it notes ways the ACE project and Africa's development goals are mutually beneficial, such as aligning research priorities

1. FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, MINNA
AFRICA CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE
FOR MYCOTOXIN AND FOOD SAFETY
Inaugural Meeting of Stakeholders, 17 -21 June 2019, Minna, Nigeria
Habiba Hassan-Wassef, MD
National Research Center, Cairo
E-mail: bio_egypt@hotmail.com
Crisis Management Protocols

2. OUTLINE
•Food safety and environment related crises
•Crisis management basics
•Infrastructure prerequisites
•The health system, a frontline actor
•Importance of good communication
•Crisis management, a learning experience
•Adapting to an evolving situation
•The ACE project and Africa’s development plans

3. Food safety and environment related crises
Onset
• Sudden and dramatic
• insidious and slow in developing
Toxic substance/contaminant
• Microbial/viral/fungal/parasitic -
• Chemical
• Radioactive
• Heavy metal
• Marine related
• Other
Contaminant/toxin entry route
• Food or water borne
• Hand to mouth
• Air born
• Skin
Stings and bites insects/reptiles/other

4. Crisis management basic requirements
• Legal framework, codes, standards, public health norms/regulations
• Competent trained personnel and services operating at all levels
• Presence of a national food safety authority and poison center
services
• A public health surveillance system for early case detection,
especially important in high risk exposure areas
• Primary care health team familiar with symptoms of existing health
hazards
• Established crisis reporting system
• National network of accredited reference laboratories

5. Prerequisites for crisis management and control
• Health system services to detect an outbreak and trace all cases- Step 1
• Established national outbreak reporting templates and procedures – Step2
• Capacity for epidemiologic investigation and source identification – Step3
• Laboratory services to confirm findings and generate information – Step4
• Identified competent authority to stop point of contamination – Step 5
• Identified responsibility to apply measures to control an outbreak – Step 6
• Validate and announce end of outbreak – Step 7
• Identify responsibility and initiate legal action as appropriate – 8
Example of Egypt:
Multiplicity of responsibility and overlap of sectoral mandates undermined efficiency of control
measures and of handling food-related outbreaks prior to recent Food Law (2018)

6. Communication
support to crisis
management
steps (1)
source: Best practice for crisis communicators,
EFSA.

7. Communication support to crisis management (2)

8. The health system, a frontline actor
Much depends on the preparedness and
performance of the primary care health
teams at community level.

9. Crisis management, a learning experience
Each crisis represents a learning experience to benefit, inter alia,
• Training purposes
• Development of guidelines
• Update of educational materials
• Detect newly emerging hazards and risk behaviors
• Identify areas for research and innovation
• Identify faulty high risk practices
• Improve quality and pertinence of preventive measures and

10. Adapting to an evolving situation
Research component of ACE project is well placed to monitor
newly emerging health hazards; unexpected reactions to
known contaminants and toxins; identify new high risk
practices or behaviors; introduce innovative measures and
appropriate technologies to raise compliance capacity to food
safety and preventive measures at community level.
This may eventually call for regular update of curriculums and
training materials produced by the project

11. Some factors undermining efficiency of prevention
and control measures at community level
• Prevalent poverty interferes with ability to respect safety regulations.
• High levels of illiteracy causing – inter alia - misuse in handling of
modern technologies and products that can be a source of harmful
incidents or contamination
• Incomplete coverage by basic infrastructure services especially access
to clean water and safe sanitation
• Poor appreciation of need for compliance with protective norms and
regulations
• Increasing skills of professionals focuses more on needs of “modern”
and “industrialized “ Africa. (Targeted strategies and actions to address
community level issues are planned to be addressed by AUC PACA)

12. Africa Centers of Excellence and
Development
2014 ACEs focused on Technology and
Skills for Africa’s Development
2018 Project is referred to as the Africa
Centres of Excellence for Development
Impact (ACE Impact) Project

13. Exploring the potential for impact
of ACE on Development Goals

15. Ultimate goal of the SDGs is to
promote healthy lives and wellbeing
for all at all ages
is shared with ultimate goal of ACE project

17. Improving nutrition is regarded as
a catalyst for achieving goals
throughout the SDGs
“NOURISHING THE SDGs”

18. NOURISHING
THE SDGs
Source: Development
Initiatives, 2017. Global
Nutrition Report 2017:
Nourishing the SDGs. Bristol,
UK: Development Initiatives.

19. ACE Project and Africa’s Development
plans/programmes
Can they become mutually beneficial ?
Example: aligning respective research priorities to satisfy and
respond to identified national/regional and continental
research needs

20. African Union Member States
are currently undertaking the
2nd Biennial Review (BR) of
progress made in achieving
commitments of Heads of
State made in the Malabo
Declaration with its newly
introduced component
on Food safety

21. AFRICA FOOD SAFETY INDEX (AFSI)
• Quote from Amare Ayalew’s (AUC-PACA) introduction of the AFSI
“… contaminated food
is no food”.
Evaluation of country’s performance in food
safety is now part of the Malabo Declaration
current Biennial Review exercise

22. International and continental convergence on
importance of food safety to advancement of nations
• A new Food Safety Index for Africa introduced at the FAO-WHO Food
Safety Conference (Addisb Ababa, Feb 2019)
• Recognition of impact of malnutrition on acceleration of Africa’s
economic growth “Stunted children lead to a stunted economy…”
Quote from President Adesina, AfDB
• Introduction of food safety index and module in 2nd Malabo
Declaration Biennial Review
• Expressed demand is made by food safety practitioners for increase in
Accredited Reference laboratories across Africa (AUC Capacity Building
in Food Safety meeting, May 2019)

23. Some identified challenges slowing improvement of African Food
Security and Nutrition are being addressed by ACE
• Insufficient qualified nutrition professionals in all categories
• Academic institutions and curriculums to be strengthened
• Unequal research capacity and technological platforms across African countries
• Limited capacity for uptake of research outcomes/evidence for policy formulation
• Limited focus of research efforts on identification and valorization of Africa’s rich
biodiversity and food heritage
• Research is needed to help the uptake by the food industry of nutrient-rich African
foods adapting them to the preferences of the modern consumer, together with
protection of IPR and respect of conformity with international norms and standards
• Ensuring safety of home produced early childhood complementary feeding products
• Efficient and safe food supply/retail systems for feeding urban population in mega-
cities

24. Key messages
• Importance of completing relevant national legal/normative frameworks
• Community and household level compliance with regulations and control
measures remains an issue in underserved communities
• Contribution of ACE to training of front line health professionals can raise the
quality of their functionality in crisis management
• ACE project can benefit from a mutually beneficial networking with
International and African food safety programs/plans
• An underdeveloped preparedness and functionality of a national food safety
system and/or weak legislative frameworks can limit the expected impact of
well trained skilled professionals.

25. THANK YOU