Advancing Global Partnerships and African Leadership at the 30th WAAVP Biennial Conference, Brazil

WAAVP-AN’s engagement at the 30th WAAVP Biennial Conference, held from 17–21 August 2025 in Curitiba, Brazil, represented a significant step in strengthening the network’s global presence and strategic partnerships. As one of the premier international forums in veterinary parasitology, the conference offered an invaluable opportunity to position Africa as an active contributor to global solutions for parasite control, particularly in the context of climate change and evolving parasitic disease dynamics.

Throughout the conference, WAAVP-AN delegates participated in plenary sessions, special symposia, and technical discussions addressing cutting-edge research in parasite epidemiology and control. Notably, the launch of FAO guidelines on the management of acaricide resistance in livestock ticks, developed with the involvement of experts from the WAAVP-AN steering committee, underscored the network’s contribution to globally relevant policies and practices.

A central moment of the conference was WAAVP-AN’s engagement with the WAAVP Executive Committee, during which the network presented its progress and formally submitted a bid to host the 32nd WAAVP Biennial Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2029. The bid was well received, reflecting confidence in WAAVP-AN’s organizational maturity and vision.

The conference also served as a hub for high-level side meetings with key international partners, including FAO, WOAH, GALVmed, Clinglobal, the Gates Foundation, TroCCAP, Elsevier, and the host of the 31st WAAVP Conference. These engagements identified concrete opportunities for collaboration, ranging from guideline development and capacity building to clinical research, publication support, training workshops, and travel grants for early-career professionals and female African scientists. Collectively, these discussions reinforced the importance of coordinated partnerships in delivering sustainable solutions for animal and zoonotic parasite control.

By the close of the conference, WAAVP-AN had not only expanded its global network but also clarified a shared agenda with partners committed to advancing veterinary parasitology in Africa. The outcomes from Curitiba reaffirmed the network’s role as a bridge between African expertise and global platforms, ensuring that locally grounded knowledge continues to inform international policy, research, and practice.