Africa CDC launches workshop on revised COVID-19 testing and surveillance Strategy

GHANA – Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has launched a Consultative Workshop on Revised COVID-19 Testing and Surveillance Strategy: Transitioning from Emergency Response to Integration into Routine Healthcare Services.

CDC has launched the workshop in collaboration with the Africa Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), and Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI).

The workshop was officially launched in Accra Ghana Dr Emmanuel Ankrah Odame, Director of Policy Planning Monitoring and Evaluation, Ministry of Health, Ghana and Dr Ahmed Ogwell OUMA Ag. Director of the Africa CDC.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa Union through Africa CDC rolled out the Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT) to scale up testing for COVID-19 in June 2020.

This continental initiative helped AU Member States limit COVID-19 transmission while ensuring increased access to diagnostics and medical supplies, as well as capacity building through strengthening competencies of front-line healthcare personnel needed to support response at the country level.

The three-day consultative workshop brings together laboratory directors, surveillance leads and incident managers for COVID-19 from the 46 AU Members States.

They will jointly deliberate, explore and formulate practical approaches and interventions that will foster intergration and expansion of COVID-19 testing services and surveillance into routine healthcare services while leveraging on existing structures within other disease programmes.

Outputs from this consultative workshop with enable AU Member States consolidate the gains made in the COVID-19 response, facilitate harmonized and coordinated implementation of strategies for integration and building of robust surveillance systems for potential outbreaks in future beyond COVID-19.

In between the launch of PACT and the Revised COVID-19 Testing and Surveillance Strategy, several guidance documents have been released by the Africa CDC and partners.

There is an urgent need for action to ensure the revised guidance for COVID-19 testing and surveillance strategy are effectively and efficiently implemented across AU Members States while ensuring surveillance systems remain functional to timely detect any potential resurgences.

This is because of the rapidly evolving epidemiology of the pandemic and the multiple recent changes in the COVID-19 response globally and at continental levels such as the lifting of lockdowns, expansion of vaccination, and a generalized decline in demand for testing.

For all the latest healthcare industry news from Africa and the World, subscribe to our NEWSLETTER, and YouTube Channel, follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, and like us on Facebook.

Newer Post

Thumbnail for Africa CDC launches workshop on revised COVID-19 testing and surveillance Strategy

<strong>Gates Foundation pledges US$7B for Africa</strong> <strong>to support breakthrough solutions in health, other areas</strong>

Older Post

Thumbnail for Africa CDC launches workshop on revised COVID-19 testing and surveillance Strategy

Over 4,000 health workers have left Zimbabwe since 2021 in search of greener pastures

Be the first to leave a comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.