Seychelles commissions genomic surveillance to better support public health

SEYCHELLES – Seychelles has established an in-country genomic surveillance system to track disease variants to assist in making well-informed decisions concerning public health matters.

The pathogen genomic surveillance will also be used to investigate outbreaks to better understand the transmission, validate diagnostics and develop therapeutics.

The launch was in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in collaborative efforts to build in-country capacity for genomic surveillance.

It is part of WHO-Africa CDC’s Southern Countries Project launched in September 2021 where countries are supported to conduct in-country sequencing and produce their own data for public health decision making.

The mission was unveiled during a small ceremony at the Seychelles Hospital Victoria by the Public Health Commissioner for the Ministry of Health (MoH) Dr Jude Gedeon with participation from representatives of the WHO, Africa CDC and Ministry of Health.

Seychelles received a donation of one sequencing machine from the Africa CDC to boost the country’s capacity to detect SARS-CoV-2 variants and other pathogens of public health significance.

Experts from Africa CDC and WHO will also be providing a two-week onsite technical support to oversee the installation and testing of the sequencer.

Seychelles has already started genomic sequencing using the available referral networks through which the country was able to identify variants of concern (VOCs) including Beta, Alpha, Delta and recently Omicron.

WHO Country Representative of Seychelles Dr. Susan Tembo pledged further technical support to the Ministry of Health to strengthen the country’s ability to detect and monitor SARS-COV-2 variant circulation while integrating laboratory and epidemiological data analysis.

“The advanced equipment and technical expertise we are receiving will enable us to overcome challenges of delayed receival of clinical test results when our genomic samples are sent overseas to reference labs,” acknowledged Dr. Jude Gedeon.

He further explained that the country could now have clinical test results at a faster rate to inform decision makers as well as the public in a timely manner.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Seychelles Public Health Laboratory had only 5 staff trained in molecular biology and conducting Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests.

“With the technical assistance of WHO, over the two years, all 21 SPHL staff including some other 40 staff from the clinical laboratory and private laboratories have received training in COVID-19 diagnostics,” he revealed.

WHO has also supported shipment of samples to overseas reference labs for sequencing in the fight against the widespread coronavirus.

The health organization has further reaffirmed its commitment to the government to continue to strengthen the country’s in-country capacity for genomic surveillance to allow for timely genomic sequencing for other pathogens of global public health significance.

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