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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Infectious Diseases: Epidemiology and Prevention
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1438334
This article is part of the Research Topic Diagnosis and Treatment Strategies of Tick-borne Diseases View all 4 articles

Diagnostics for detection and surveillance of priority epidemic-prone diseases in Africa: an assessment of testing capacity and laboratory strengthening needs

Provisionally accepted
Aytenew Ashenafi Aytenew Ashenafi 1*Olajumoke Sule Olajumoke Sule 2Trevor Peter Trevor Peter 3Silver Mashate Silver Mashate 4Osborn Otieno Osborn Otieno 5Abebaw Kebede Abebaw Kebede 1John Oio John Oio 6Kekeletso Kao Kekeletso Kao 7Jane Carter Jane Carter 8Toni Whistler Toni Whistler 5Nqobile Ndlovu Nqobile Ndlovu 4Yenew Kebede Yenew Kebede 1
  • 1 Laboratory Systems Division, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • 2 Consultant Global Health Microbiologist, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), London, United Kingdom
  • 3 Clinton Health Access Initiative, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
  • 4 African Society for Laboratory Medicine, Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • 5 Technical Advice and Partnerships Department, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Vernier, Switzerland
  • 6 Monitoring and Evaluation, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • 7 Diagnostic System Strengthening Unit, Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
  • 8 Clinical and Diagnostics Programme, Amref Health Africa, Nairobi, Kenya

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The identification and monitoring of priority epidemic-prone diseases in Africa involve various crucial aspects that are vital for enhancing public health interventions and responses. This assessment of testing capabilities and the requirement for strengthening laboratories reveals the existing testing capacity, such as disease-specific diagnostics for viral Hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs) like Ebola, Marburg, and Lassa fever. These diagnostics need advanced biosafety laboratories and specialized molecular diagnostic tools like RT-PCR. Additionally, it highlights the gaps in disease surveillance and response across the African continent.

    Keywords: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, methodology, Validation, visualization, Writing -original draft, Writing -review & editing. Jane Carter: Writing -review & editing. Olajumoke Sule: Conceptualization

    Received: 25 May 2024; Accepted: 29 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Ashenafi, Sule, Peter, Mashate, Otieno, Kebede, Oio, Kao, Carter, Whistler, Ndlovu and Kebede. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Aytenew Ashenafi, Laboratory Systems Division, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.