“Health Security Partnership in Africa” advocates for better surveillance

As part of a 14-month project, the RKI is participating in an initiative that advocates an integrated approach to the early detection of potential disease outbreaks. Significant progress has been made on the African continent in the last decade, for example through the expansion of laboratory capacities. On the other hand, Africa still has to cope with most health emergencies worldwide. The project “Health Security Partnership in Africa” (HSPA), which is funded by Global Affairs Canada, is therefore committed to improving surveillance systems.

In the frame of a cooperation between WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence, WHO AFRO, WHO EMRO, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the RKI, the involved stakeholders have partnered up with six initial countries to implement activities to strengthen national health systems. The Centre for International Health Protection supports Morocco, Namibia, South Africa and Tunisia in the areas of “Epidemic Intelligence” (unit ZIG 1) and “Genomic Surveillance” (unit ZIG 4). To this end, the focus is currently on the development of road maps and, in the next step, for instance on the joint development of dashboards for the monitoring of potential disease outbreaks as well as targeted initiatives to strengthen capacities in pathogen genomics for laboratory staff.

Meeting of the HSPA project stakeholders in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of the Congo, in February 2024. Photo: WHO AFRO

Within a bigger context, HSPA is also committed to strengthening the networking of various stakeholders from politics and science and to promoting the sustainable financing of health systems. To this end, Africa CDC organised a high-level exchange on the topic of “Biosecurity Shield or Comprehensive Biodefense Governance for a New Public Health Order in Africa” in March 2024. ZIG took part in the talks and discussions in order to present the RKI's project work. Furthermore, HSPA stakeholders recently held a joint meeting in Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of the Congo, with all partner countries to discuss the project's status and to plan a potential follow-up project from autumn 2024. The aim will be to expand the initiative in the long term in order to bring about sustainable change.

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