NTI | bio and Africa CDC Convene Biosecurity and Biosafety Experts from Central Africa

From October 1-3, 2019 in Libreville, Gabon, NTI’s biosecurity program (NTI | bio) partnered with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to convene more than 40 experts from nine countries in the Central African region to advance biosafety and biosecurity. The event was the second in a series of workshops to advance Africa CDC’s Initiative to Strengthen Biosecurity and Biosafety, launched during the 2019 NTI Global Biosecurity Dialogue at the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The workshop was designed to help the Africa CDC Central Africa Regional Collaborating Centre and its member countries identify and prioritize actions to fill biosecurity and biosafety gaps, leveraging national and regional resources.  The effort builds on NTI’s work to advance the achievement of specific biosafety and biosecurity targets as part of the development of national and regional health security- action plans. The workshop also advanced Africa CDC’s efforts to develop a continent-wide model framework to support national biosafety and biosecurity implementation; an African Union High Consequence Agents and Toxins list; biosecurity and biosafety implementation guidance for laboratories and regulatory agencies; and a laboratory biosafety and biosecurity training strategy.

Workshop participants included key staff from all nine countries across the human health, animal health, and defense and security sectors. They developed concrete actions to address biosecurity and biosafety challenges common among Central African countries. Among them:

• The Africa CDC Central Africa Regional Collaborating Centre agreed to set realistic biosecurity and biosafety capacity building goals for the region and track progress.  They also agreed to request that Member States nominate a multi-sectoral body for reporting on successes and challenges in achieving these goals  and apply regional solutions to common challenges and facilitate sharing of lessons learned;
• 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, to adapt existing biosecurity and biosafety training curricula to the Central African Member States
• Representatives from Central African Member States who participated in the meeting agreed to nominate representative(s) of the region to participate in the African Union Biorisk Management Legislative Framework development process and sensitize national and regional leadership and technical experts to the Framework to enable timely buy-in once it is endorsed by the African Union.

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.

Learn more about the Global Biosecurity Dialogue Project here.