Reference laboratory strengthens health services in Africa

The new public health facility, which will also support AU members in surveillance and outbreak response, features state-of-the-art technology and will enhance cooperation in building capacity of member states in hard laboratory systems and networks.

The African Union health agency said the latter would improve clinical care and facilitate technology transfer to African institutions.

Director-General of the Africa CDC, Jean Cassia, praised the Chinese government for its support in achieving a new public health system and structure on the continent that can prevent, detect and respond to any kind of threat in this sector.

In Cassia’s view, this will be one of the key outcomes in terms of the new public health system we are promoting to make the centers a world-class organization, and “China supports the African public health agenda.”

For his part, Head of the Beijing Mission to the African Union, Hu Changchun, said that the new laboratory opens a new chapter in the issue of public health in Africa, and will inject new momentum into cooperation on the continent.

Deputy Director of the National Administration for Disease Prevention and Control of China and Director-General of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shen Hongping, spoke in the same context, recalling that the government of the Asian giant has always given great importance to relations with Africa.

Hongping reiterated that this administration is committed to enhancing technical exchange and cooperation in the field of public health between China and African countries.

As a center of excellence, the laboratory is expected to host antimicrobial susceptibility testing for resistance monitoring, biochemical analysis, multiplex molecular diagnostic capability, biobanking and advanced genetic sequencing of pathogens.

Likewise, it includes the ability to perform metagenomic sequencing to identify unknown diseases, among other features.

rgh/nuclear magnetic resonance