Aerial operations

I{ORLD EEALTH ORGANIZATION ORGANISATION HONDIALE DE LA SANTE ONCUOCBRCIASIS CONTROL PROGRAU}TB IN UEST ATRICA PROGRAMXE DE LUTTE CONTRE LIONCUOCBRCOSE EN ATRIQUB DE LIOUEST EXPERT ADVISORY COMMITTEE Ninth sesslon ocP/EAC9.8ENGLISH ONLY 0ua o u 13-f7 June 1988 AERIAL OPERATIONS A. PROGRESS REPORT Performance Durlng the eighth session of the Expert Advisory Conmittee (ouagadougou, June1987) EAC Members enquired about Ehe posslble lnfluence of changlng the aerial spraying eontractor on maintalning t.he necessary standard of treatment (1). OCpstaff explained chat the change of aeri-al contractors had takehplace in the niddleof t.he L986187 dry season when vector cont.rol operatlons were at their lowestIevel. However, during the early months of 1987 a number of problems had been encountered. In parEicular, iE had taken pilots sotre conslderable Eime to become completely famlllar with Ehe Ereatment circuits and the complexitles of treatmenttechniques requlred for t.he roEaEional use of larvicides. FurEhermore, helicopter spraying equlpment required a greaE nany modiflcations before it was able tofunction with any degree of satisfacEion. However, by the middle of 1987, and as a result of t,remendous efforts on t.hepart of both Ehe aerlal contractor and OCP staff, there was an appreciableimprovement ln aerlal operaEions. The principal factors responsible for an overall iuprovement in theperformance of the aerial contractor and for more effectlve vector control operatlons were: (1) The establlshment and mainEenance of closer worklng relatlons between operatlonal st.aff of the conEractor and of OCp (ii) rmprovement.of the pilotsr navigatlonal skills and aerlal techniques spraying ( 1i1) ( lv) (v) The locational stabllity of uany pilots contlnulng technical improvemenEs in larviclde release equlpnent. rncrease stock 1evels of spare parts (especlally radlo and avionic elecEronic equlpmenE) for aircraft. and spray sysEems (vl) Concert,ed efforcs by VCU operational staff to lucrease the cosc- efflciency of aerlal operations (vii) rncreased use of Eelet.ransmicEed hydrologlcal data and Ehe computerlzaElon of those data ln comblnatlon wlth treatment daLa. (r)oocumenr JpCB.6 (o}plEAC/87.1) paragraph 19. 1 I i page 2 B. REVIEI{ OF TAE AERIAL CONTRACT 1. Aerlal Contract Revlew Ueetlng The thlrd aerlal cont,ract revlew neet.lng was held ln Kara, Togo, o 1988. Ihe next (f ourth) meet,lng w111 be held ln l.lcMlnnvllle durlng 17-1 1988; ' n3 90 O lturch ctober During the thlrd aerlal contract revlew neetlng lt was acknowledged thaE there had been rnanyr nalnly technlcal, problems durtng the flrst. several months of the current, aerlal contract. Some of the more slgnlflcant problems had arlsen because the wording of the aerlal contract was not sufficlently preclse and had led to mlsunderstandlngs on the part of the Contraccor and of the Programme. llowever, 1o a eplrlt of close collaboratlon and as a result of very posltlve efforts by staff of the contractor and of the OCP, nany problems had been resolved and others had been signlflcantly reduced. Accordlngly, all partles concerned were preparing for the 1988 wet season wlth rnuch more optlmlsm than had been posslble at Ehe start of the 1987 wet season. 2. Revlslon of the lnvltatlon to bld for the next aerlal conEract . As referred to above, durlng the impleuentatton of t.he current aerial contractr' lt became.apparent that sone clauses ln the lnvltatlon to bld whlch forms part of the aerlal contracE now lacked neceasary precisl.on although they had remalned virtually unchanged for t.he past ten years or ao. These clauses deal rnainly wlth larvlcide release equipment for hellcopters and hellcopter performance. In January 1988, the Programme Director lnvlted OCP staff to examlne the contract documents and submlt proposals for a revised lnvltatlon to bld modelled on the current one but updated accordlng to current experlence. Work on the revlsion commenced,without delay and by nld-March the Chlef Aerial Offlcer had produced a flrst',draft revlsion. Towards the end of Aprll 1988, by whlch tlue nany more suggestLooa had been receLved, lt was posslble to produce a second draft revlslon whlch was clrculated to the approprlate OCP staff and to the WHO Legal Advlser for revlew and posslble further nodlflcatlon. At the same tlme OCP staff were invlted to make suggestions as to how the exlsting procedure for the lnvitlng of bids and for the select,lon of an aerial contractor could be lmproved upon. After nuch deliberatlon lt nas agreed thaE, in addltlon to the preparatlon of a very soundly worded tavltatlon to bld, the Prograrnme should: (1) Publlsh ln the avlaElon llterature an announcement that companies interested ln the next aerlal contract should make their lnEerest known to WHO. Thls carefully worded announcement would contain very rlgid' quallflcatlon crlteria whlch, 1t ls expect,ed, would greatly llmlt the number of bldders and stmpllfy the selection process. (11) Create a pre-selectlou review comulttee dravn fron OCP aerlal operaElons speciallsts (Chlef VCU, CAO, Chlefs of Operatlonal Areas and Aerobases, and AFO) who would revlew the bid subuisslons recelved and provide technlcal and operatlonal advlce to the WIIO Contrat Review Coilnlttee.