Experts meet in Africa to advance biosecurity in the region

More than 40 experts from nine Central African nations met in October at an event hosted by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to advance biosafety and biosecurity in the region.

The event, held in Libreville, Gabon, was the second in a series of workshops to advance Africa CDC’s Initiative to Strengthen Biosecurity and Biosafety, launched during the Nuclear Threat Initiative’s NTI Global Biosecurity Dialogue at the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The event was designed to help the Africa CDC Central Africa Regional Collaborating Centre and its member countries identify and fill biosecurity and biosafety gaps. Participants included human health, animal health, and defense and security staff from the nine-member nations. They developed concrete actions to address biosecurity and biosafety challenges common among Central African countries. Among them:

Specifically, the participants agreed to set realistic biosecurity and biosafety capacity building goals for the region and track progress. Further, they agreed to nominate a multi-sectoral body for reporting on successes and challenges in achieving these goals and apply regional solutions to common challenges and share lessons learned.

Further, the Africa CDC Central Africa Regional Collaborating Centre pledged to fill recognized biosecurity training gaps by coordinating a regional effort, through partnerships with Africa CDC’s Institute for Workforce Development, Columbia University, and the Association of Public Health Laboratories. The idea is to adapt existing biosecurity and biosafety training curricula to the Central African Member States. In addition, they agreed to nominate representatives of the region to participate in the African Union Biorisk Management Legislative Framework.

The workshop was a collaboration with the African Union, the African Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency at the U.S. Department of Defense.