By Delia Gutiérrez. Posted july 28, 2016

A workshop has been held in Dakar from 19 to 21 July, co-organized by the National Agency of Civil Aviation and Meteorology (ANACIM) of Senegal and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States, with participation of meteorological and health services authorities coming from four countries in the region (Senegal, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso), as well as national and international experts.

The objective of the workshop was to strengthen the relationship and cooperation between meteorological and health services of the participating countries, aiming to identify and develope weather and climate information products to assist decision-making by health authorities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are heavily involved through the Global Framework for Climate Services (MMSC) in the development and implementation of such Early Warning Systems (EWS).

The HEALTHMET project of Afrimet has been represented at the meeting by its coordinator, along with the regional expert and focal point of the project in Burkina Faso. Throughout its history, the project HEALTHMET has facilitated the training of technicians of meteorological services in the region on issues such as the detection of atmospheric dust and climate-health relationships, and has promoted the creation of working groups on national Climate-Health in Mauritania and Burkina Faso.

HEALHMET projet has been presented to the participants of this workshop and partnerships with NOAA and with meteorological and health services of the participating countries have been identified, with the common aim of promoting the creation of national SATs in the countries concerned, in line with the results of the Conference of Nouakchott.