The East African Community (EAC) mobile laboratory networks in Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan—from project implementation to outbreak response against Dengue, Ebola, COVID-19, and epidemic-prone diseases
Abstract Background East Africa is home to 170 million people and prone to frequent outbreaks of viral haemorrhagic fevers and various bacterial diseases. A major challenge is that epidemics mostly happen in remote areas, where infrastructure for Biosecurity Level (BSL) 3/4 laboratory capacity is no...
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2021-07-01
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Series: | BMC Medicine |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-021-02028-y |
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Muna Affara Hakim Idris Lagu Emmanuel Achol Richard Karamagi Neema Omari Grace Ochido Eric Kezakarayagwa Francine Kabatesi Anatole Nkeshimana Abdi Roba Millicent Nyakio Ndia Mamo U. Abudo Alice Kabanda Etienne Mpabuka Emil Ivan Mwikarago Philip Ezekiel Kutjok Donald Duku Samson Lul Lojok Deng Nyambura Moremi Maria Ezekiely Kelly Peter Bernard Mtesigwa Mkama Alex Magesa Stephen Karabyo Balinandi Godfrey Pimundu Susan Ndidde Nabadda Dewi Ismajani Puradiredja Julia Hinzmann Sophie Duraffour Martin Gabriel Gerd Ruge Wibke Loag Rogers Ayiko Stanley Serser Sonoiya Juergen May Michael J. Katende Florian Gehre |
spellingShingle |
Muna Affara Hakim Idris Lagu Emmanuel Achol Richard Karamagi Neema Omari Grace Ochido Eric Kezakarayagwa Francine Kabatesi Anatole Nkeshimana Abdi Roba Millicent Nyakio Ndia Mamo U. Abudo Alice Kabanda Etienne Mpabuka Emil Ivan Mwikarago Philip Ezekiel Kutjok Donald Duku Samson Lul Lojok Deng Nyambura Moremi Maria Ezekiely Kelly Peter Bernard Mtesigwa Mkama Alex Magesa Stephen Karabyo Balinandi Godfrey Pimundu Susan Ndidde Nabadda Dewi Ismajani Puradiredja Julia Hinzmann Sophie Duraffour Martin Gabriel Gerd Ruge Wibke Loag Rogers Ayiko Stanley Serser Sonoiya Juergen May Michael J. Katende Florian Gehre The East African Community (EAC) mobile laboratory networks in Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan—from project implementation to outbreak response against Dengue, Ebola, COVID-19, and epidemic-prone diseases BMC Medicine East African Community Viral haemorrhagic fevers Ebola virus disease Dengue fever Mobile laboratory COVID-19 |
author_facet |
Muna Affara Hakim Idris Lagu Emmanuel Achol Richard Karamagi Neema Omari Grace Ochido Eric Kezakarayagwa Francine Kabatesi Anatole Nkeshimana Abdi Roba Millicent Nyakio Ndia Mamo U. Abudo Alice Kabanda Etienne Mpabuka Emil Ivan Mwikarago Philip Ezekiel Kutjok Donald Duku Samson Lul Lojok Deng Nyambura Moremi Maria Ezekiely Kelly Peter Bernard Mtesigwa Mkama Alex Magesa Stephen Karabyo Balinandi Godfrey Pimundu Susan Ndidde Nabadda Dewi Ismajani Puradiredja Julia Hinzmann Sophie Duraffour Martin Gabriel Gerd Ruge Wibke Loag Rogers Ayiko Stanley Serser Sonoiya Juergen May Michael J. Katende Florian Gehre |
author_sort |
Muna Affara |
title |
The East African Community (EAC) mobile laboratory networks in Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan—from project implementation to outbreak response against Dengue, Ebola, COVID-19, and epidemic-prone diseases |
title_short |
The East African Community (EAC) mobile laboratory networks in Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan—from project implementation to outbreak response against Dengue, Ebola, COVID-19, and epidemic-prone diseases |
title_full |
The East African Community (EAC) mobile laboratory networks in Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan—from project implementation to outbreak response against Dengue, Ebola, COVID-19, and epidemic-prone diseases |
title_fullStr |
The East African Community (EAC) mobile laboratory networks in Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan—from project implementation to outbreak response against Dengue, Ebola, COVID-19, and epidemic-prone diseases |
title_full_unstemmed |
The East African Community (EAC) mobile laboratory networks in Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan—from project implementation to outbreak response against Dengue, Ebola, COVID-19, and epidemic-prone diseases |
title_sort |
east african community (eac) mobile laboratory networks in kenya, burundi, tanzania, rwanda, uganda, and south sudan—from project implementation to outbreak response against dengue, ebola, covid-19, and epidemic-prone diseases |
publisher |
BMC |
series |
BMC Medicine |
issn |
1741-7015 |
publishDate |
2021-07-01 |
description |
Abstract Background East Africa is home to 170 million people and prone to frequent outbreaks of viral haemorrhagic fevers and various bacterial diseases. A major challenge is that epidemics mostly happen in remote areas, where infrastructure for Biosecurity Level (BSL) 3/4 laboratory capacity is not available. As samples have to be transported from the outbreak area to the National Public Health Laboratories (NPHL) in the capitals or even flown to international reference centres, diagnosis is significantly delayed and epidemics emerge. Main text The East African Community (EAC), an intergovernmental body of Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and South Sudan, received 10 million € funding from the German Development Bank (KfW) to establish BSL3/4 capacity in the region. Between 2017 and 2020, the EAC in collaboration with the Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine (Germany) and the Partner Countries’ Ministries of Health and their respective NPHLs, established a regional network of nine mobile BSL3/4 laboratories. These rapidly deployable laboratories allowed the region to reduce sample turn-around-time (from days to an average of 8h) at the centre of the outbreak and rapidly respond to epidemics. In the present article, the approach for implementing such a regional project is outlined and five major aspects (including recommendations) are described: (i) the overall project coordination activities through the EAC Secretariat and the Partner States, (ii) procurement of equipment, (iii) the established laboratory setup and diagnostic panels, (iv) regional training activities and capacity building of various stakeholders and (v) completed and ongoing field missions. The latter includes an EAC/WHO field simulation exercise that was conducted on the border between Tanzania and Kenya in June 2019, the support in molecular diagnosis during the Tanzanian Dengue outbreak in 2019, the participation in the Ugandan National Ebola response activities in Kisoro district along the Uganda/DRC border in Oct/Nov 2019 and the deployments of the laboratories to assist in SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics throughout the region since early 2020. Conclusions The established EAC mobile laboratory network allows accurate and timely diagnosis of BSL3/4 pathogens in all East African countries, important for individual patient management and to effectively contain the spread of epidemic-prone diseases. |
topic |
East African Community Viral haemorrhagic fevers Ebola virus disease Dengue fever Mobile laboratory COVID-19 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-021-02028-y |
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doaj-082fdf9e04be435b96ff2a63e94ea8242021-07-11T11:20:16ZengBMCBMC Medicine1741-70152021-07-0119111510.1186/s12916-021-02028-yThe East African Community (EAC) mobile laboratory networks in Kenya, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan—from project implementation to outbreak response against Dengue, Ebola, COVID-19, and epidemic-prone diseasesMuna Affara0Hakim Idris Lagu1Emmanuel Achol2Richard Karamagi3Neema Omari4Grace Ochido5Eric Kezakarayagwa6Francine Kabatesi7Anatole Nkeshimana8Abdi Roba9Millicent Nyakio Ndia10Mamo U. Abudo11Alice Kabanda12Etienne Mpabuka13Emil Ivan Mwikarago14Philip Ezekiel Kutjok15Donald Duku Samson16Lul Lojok Deng17Nyambura Moremi18Maria Ezekiely Kelly19Peter Bernard Mtesigwa Mkama20Alex Magesa21Stephen Karabyo Balinandi22Godfrey Pimundu23Susan Ndidde Nabadda24Dewi Ismajani Puradiredja25Julia Hinzmann26Sophie Duraffour27Martin Gabriel28Gerd Ruge29Wibke Loag30Rogers Ayiko31Stanley Serser Sonoiya32Juergen May33Michael J. Katende34Florian Gehre35Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical MedicineEast African Community (EAC)East African Community (EAC)East African Community (EAC)Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical MedicineDepartment for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical MedicineNational Institute of Public Health, Ministry of Health and Fight Against AIDSNational Institute of Public Health, Ministry of Health and Fight Against AIDSNational Institute of Public Health, Ministry of Health and Fight Against AIDSNational Public Health Laboratories, Ministry of HealthNational Public Health Laboratories, Ministry of HealthNational Public Health Laboratories, Ministry of HealthNational Reference Laboratory Division, Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Ministry of HealthNational Reference Laboratory Division, Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Ministry of HealthNational Reference Laboratory Division, Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Ministry of HealthPublic Health Laboratory and National Blood Transfusion Centre, Ministry of HealthPublic Health Laboratory and National Blood Transfusion Centre, Ministry of HealthPublic Health Laboratory and National Blood Transfusion Centre, Ministry of HealthMinistry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and ChildrenMinistry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and ChildrenMinistry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and ChildrenMinistry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and ChildrenUganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI)National Health Laboratory and Diagnostic Services (NHLDS), Ministry of HealthNational Health Laboratory and Diagnostic Services (NHLDS), Ministry of HealthDepartment for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical MedicineVirology Department, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical MedicineVirology Department, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical MedicineVirology Department, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical MedicineDepartment for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical MedicineDepartment for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical MedicineEast African Community (EAC)East African Community (EAC)Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical MedicineEast African Community (EAC)Department for Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical MedicineAbstract Background East Africa is home to 170 million people and prone to frequent outbreaks of viral haemorrhagic fevers and various bacterial diseases. A major challenge is that epidemics mostly happen in remote areas, where infrastructure for Biosecurity Level (BSL) 3/4 laboratory capacity is not available. As samples have to be transported from the outbreak area to the National Public Health Laboratories (NPHL) in the capitals or even flown to international reference centres, diagnosis is significantly delayed and epidemics emerge. Main text The East African Community (EAC), an intergovernmental body of Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, and South Sudan, received 10 million € funding from the German Development Bank (KfW) to establish BSL3/4 capacity in the region. Between 2017 and 2020, the EAC in collaboration with the Bernhard-Nocht-Institute for Tropical Medicine (Germany) and the Partner Countries’ Ministries of Health and their respective NPHLs, established a regional network of nine mobile BSL3/4 laboratories. These rapidly deployable laboratories allowed the region to reduce sample turn-around-time (from days to an average of 8h) at the centre of the outbreak and rapidly respond to epidemics. In the present article, the approach for implementing such a regional project is outlined and five major aspects (including recommendations) are described: (i) the overall project coordination activities through the EAC Secretariat and the Partner States, (ii) procurement of equipment, (iii) the established laboratory setup and diagnostic panels, (iv) regional training activities and capacity building of various stakeholders and (v) completed and ongoing field missions. The latter includes an EAC/WHO field simulation exercise that was conducted on the border between Tanzania and Kenya in June 2019, the support in molecular diagnosis during the Tanzanian Dengue outbreak in 2019, the participation in the Ugandan National Ebola response activities in Kisoro district along the Uganda/DRC border in Oct/Nov 2019 and the deployments of the laboratories to assist in SARS-CoV-2 diagnostics throughout the region since early 2020. Conclusions The established EAC mobile laboratory network allows accurate and timely diagnosis of BSL3/4 pathogens in all East African countries, important for individual patient management and to effectively contain the spread of epidemic-prone diseases.https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-021-02028-yEast African CommunityViral haemorrhagic feversEbola virus diseaseDengue feverMobile laboratoryCOVID-19 |