Biosafety and biosecurity capacity building at the Africa Centres for Disease Control phase III

This project aims to mitigate the longstanding and serious threats associated with “deliberate disease” emanating from Africa. These challenges that are prioritized by the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) the G7 the United Nations and INTERPOL. This project aims to support Africa CDC to further develop and deliver a comprehensive Strategic Plan on Biosafety and Biosecurity. This Project a product of the Canada-led Signature Initiative to Mitigate Biological Threats in Africa seeks to enable a multi-year sustained push by Africa CDC to prevent detect and respond to deliberate disease threats through continent-wide capacity building for biosecurity (in other words protecting pathogens from illicit acquisition) and biosafety (in other words preventing accidental release of pathogens from laboratories and protecting lab staff from infection).

The expected results of this project include: (1) enhanced coordination monitoring and implementation among African states on biosafety and biosecurity subsequently measured by the internationally recognized Global Health Security Index; (2) increased knowledge and expertise of experts in biosecurity to ensure safe and secure practices when handling high consequence pathogens among Africa states; and (3) enhanced coordination monitoring and implementation among African states of the Africa CDC Biosafety and Biosecurity Strategic Plan.