Last week, CropLife AME colleagues attended the annual scientific meeting and conference organised by the Middle East and North Africa Clinical Toxicology Association (MENATOX Conference), in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. MENATOX aims to facilitate communication between all its members, promote collaborations that advance the care of poisoned patients, and establish meaningful research endeavours to achieve self-sustainability and better plan health care delivery. Evelyn Lusenaka, CL AME Stewardship Director, notably provided a presentation on Pesticides Primer for Clinical Toxicologists and Public Health Professionals: Proper Selection, Characteristics, and Safe Applications. The presentation provided the audience with a better understanding of pesticides, risks and hazards and responsible use. In addition to the presentation, CL AME held a side event titled The Roles of Poison Information Centres in the LMICs and EMRO Countries in Safe Management of Pesticides. Key outcomes from the presentation and side event were that CL AME needs to work closely to share information on pesticides with the clinical toxicologists. There is also a need to develop a database of the active ingredients and a guide on how the clinicians can manage incidences of poisoning. In addition, CLAME will work closely with MENATOX to build capacity of the poison information centres in data collection. CropLife AME is thriller to announce it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with MENATOX to collaborate in building the capacity of poison information centres across the MENA region in order to share knowledge and data on pesticide poisonings to augment stewardship activities in hotspot areas. The event was a great opportunity to share best practices on how as CL AME we work towards reducing the numbers of poisoning cases related to pesticides and to learn from experts in the field of clinical toxicology and public health research. The use of crop protection and biotechnology products is essential for maintaining and increasing agricultural productivity and improving farmer livelihoods on the African continent. However, this must be achieved with minimum risk to human health and the environment. To achieve this CropLife Africa Middle East, along with its member companies and associations, actively develops and promotes stewardship programs across the region. The industry recognises that effective stewardship is crucial for doing business in Africa and that it is especially important in low-income countries where regulatory enforcement may lack effectiveness.
