ZIG contributes to African Union’s public health conference in Zambia

At the third “International Conference on Public Health in Africa” (CPHIA), which took place in Zambia’s capital Lusaka from 27 to 30 November 2023, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) was represented at two side events organised by the Centre for International Health Protection (ZIG).

The official launch of the guidance framework on strengthening the surveillance of non-communicable diseases, injuries and mental health in Africa, jointly developed by Africa CDC and RKI. Photo: Africa CDC

The first side event on “Strengthening Early Warning and Disease Detection” presented the close cooperation in the field of public health intelligence between ZIG and the partner division at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), in particular within the framework of the “Health Security Partnership in Africa” (HSPA). The goal of the HSPA project, funded since July 2023 by the Government of Canada's “Weapons Threat Reduction Program”, is to strengthen health security in Africa by building capacity in biosecurity, integrated disease surveillance, event-based surveillance, genomic surveillance, and epidemic intelligence, and by promoting country-led leadership. Within HSPA, Africa CDC represents the event-based surveillance work area and ZIG 1 the epidemic intelligence work area. Due to the close relationship between these topics, there is great potential to generate synergies. In addition to the presentation of the joint work, the side event therefore offered an opportunity to exchange ideas with each other and with the partner countries.

The side event began with a presentation of the HSPA project. Representatives of the participating partner countries The Gambia, Mali, Morocco, Namibia, South Africa and Tunisia then shared their activities and challenges in building capacities in the field of epidemiological surveillance of disease outbreaks. The presentation was followed by a panel discussion in which the RKI, Africa CDC, the Berlin-based Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence of the World Health Organisation (WHO) as well as the WHO Regional Offices for Africa (AFRO) and the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO) were represented. A discussion ensued about the importance and various approaches of regional institutions such as Africa CDC or AFRO and EMRO in supporting the countries, but also about the country selection of the project and a possible future expansion.

The core team of the side event on non-communicable diseases, injuries and mental health during the “International Conference on Public Health in Africa” in Zambia in November 2023. Photo: RKI

The second side event entitled “Non-Communicable Diseases, Injuries and Mental health in Africa: Launching the continental guidance framework on strengthening surveillance systems” was also jointly organised with the Division of Disease Control and Prevention of Africa CDC. The aim was to officially launch the guidance framework on strengthening surveillance of non-communicable diseases, injuries (NCDI) and mental health (MH) in Africa. As part of the project NCDI-MH_Surv within the Global Health Protection Programme, Africa CDC developed the guidance with the support of the Robert Koch Institute and with the participation of African Union‘s Member States. It contains recommendations on indicator development, data use for evidence-based policy advice and the use of existing health information systems.

After presentations on the need for NCDI/MH surveillance in Africa and the development process and the content of the guidelines, a panel consisting of NCDI/MH representatives from Botswana, Kenya, Comoros, Ghana and Nigeria as well as the Africa CDC’s Scientific Advisory Board discussed various best practices and lessons learnt from each country's experience. The side event led to a call for support in the continent-wide implementation of the recommendations published in the document.

In addition to the side events co-organised by ZIG, the conference offered a variety of other presentations and events. Following the motto “Breaking barriers: Repositioning Africa in the global health architecture”, topics ranged from digitalisation, women's health and universal health coverage to pandemic preparedness and mental health. A recurring theme in many events was the desire to further strengthen international partnerships, but also to increase the independence of the African continent by strengthening its own capacities.

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