The management of health crises in Africa is a major concern, especially since the Covid-19 outbreak. Countries and development partners are pulling efforts to find an effective approach to handle such crisis on the continent.

On Monday, September 13, the Institut Pasteur in Dakar (IP Dakar) and the Pan African Mutual Risk Management Organization (ARC) signed a partnership agreement to anticipate the management of epidemics and outbreaks of high-impact infectious diseases in Africa.

The initiative aims to support African Union (AU) member states in assessing their capacity in epidemiological surveillance, epidemic response and laboratory diagnosis.

"We have reliably proven that an anticipatory approach based on forecasting, aided by predictive and risk analysis, allows for a faster, more cost-effective and adequate response to climate and other natural hazards," said Ibrahima Cheikh Diong, ARC Group's Director General.

"This partnership [...] will allow us to mutually exploit the expertise of each agency and that of other stakeholders to provide a pan-African approach for a holistic, rapid and effective action against the identified epidemics,” he added.

Since covid-19 highlighted the shortcomings of the continent's health systems, Africa has been stepping up initiatives to strengthen its capacity to manage health crises. In 2022, Senegal and Rwanda are expected to host production sites for a messenger RNA vaccine against malaria in partnership with BioNTech.

In that same vein, Egypt, which aims to position itself as the largest producer of vaccines in Africa and the Middle East, announced during a press conference on September 1, the production of one billion doses of vaccine against covid-19 per year. According to the Egyptian Minister of Health, the production should cover local and international needs.

The agreement between IP Dakar and ARC also aims to guide African countries in the development of "quantified and specific response scenarios" to pathogens when an epidemic is declared.

Dorcas Loba (intern)