Africa CDC, WHO, and RKI launch health security partnership to strengthen disease surveillance in Africa

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) have jointly announced the launch of a Health Security Partnership aimed at strengthening disease surveillance and epidemic intelligence in Africa.

The partnership will focus on enhancing Africa’s health security capabilities in various areas, including biosecurity, integrated disease surveillance, event-based surveillance, genomic surveillance, and epidemic intelligence.

A key objective of the partnership is to promote strong country leadership in these areas. Initially, the first phase of the partnership will be implemented in six African Union Member States: The Gambia, Mali, Morocco, Namibia, Tunisia, and South Africa.

The initiative will later expand to include additional countries.

Strong disease surveillance forms the foundation of health security.

While significant progress has been made in disease surveillance across Africa in the past decade, the continent continues to experience more outbreaks and health emergencies compared to other regions.

Many of these incidents are preventable or controllable through proven public health interventions.

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the crucial role of public health laboratories in surveillance and the need for advancements in data collection, management, reporting, and dissemination to facilitate evidence-based policymaking during health security emergencies.

To address these challenges, the Health Security Partnership in Africa aims to enhance integrated disease surveillance capabilities throughout the continent.

The partnership seeks to improve the detection, confirmation, and notification of health security threats. Dr. Yenew Kebede, Head of Laboratory Systems and Networks at Africa CDC, emphasized the significance of the multi-country project consultation and launch meeting, highlighting its role in sharing experiences and best practices, which are crucial for the project’s success.

The World Health Organization’s Regional Offices for Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean have been working closely with Africa CDC under the Joint Emergency Action Plan (JEAP) framework to strengthen public health surveillance, promote regional cooperation, and address health challenges in Africa.

The Health Security Partnership in Africa aligns with this collaborative framework and will contribute to its overall objectives by delivering concrete results in emergency preparedness and response, surveillance and laboratory capabilities, and by fostering a better-coordinated and more resilient health system to protect the health of people in Africa.

Sara Hersey, Director of Collaborative Intelligence at the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, emphasized the importance of collective efforts in preventing, preparing for, and responding to health security emergencies.

Through this partnership, WHO remains committed to working with Member States to systematically enhance capabilities and collaboration across stakeholders, sectors, and borders, ultimately leading to more effective and collaborative disease surveillance in Africa.

The Health Security Partnership in Africa is funded by the Government of Canada’s Weapons Threat Reduction Program and is aligned with the health security objectives of the G7-led Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction.

This partnership represents a collective commitment to collaboration at the health security interface and will serve as a catalyst for accelerating the development and pooling of capabilities and expertise in disease surveillance and epidemic intelligence in Africa.