AFROSCREEN: an effective network for genomic surveillance in Sub-Saharan Africa during disease outbreaks

Three years after it was launched, AFROSCREEN is meeting all its objectives by developing effective genomic surveillance to tackle disease outbreaks in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Since 2021, those involved in the AFROSCREEN project, which received €10 million in funding from the French Development Agency (AFD), have been working to introduce or strengthen sequencing platforms and develop an operational network to monitor emerging pathogens in West and Central Africa and Madagascar. With 25 partners in 13 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, AFROSCREEN is improving detection, characterization and genomic surveillance of emerging pathogens to facilitate epidemic preparedness and response. The AFROSCREEN project, coordinated by ANRS Emerging Infectious Diseases, an independent agency of Inserm, in a consortium with the Institut Pasteur and the French Research Institute for Development (IRD), was launched in July 2021 in response to the COVID-19 epidemic.
 
The results will be presented on May 29 and 30, 2024 in Dakar, Senegal, at the regional AFROSCREEN conference, which will be attended by all the scientific, technical and financial partners as well as Africa CDC and WHO.

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