China CDC and Africa CDC Jointly Hold Laboratory Technology Training Programme to Support Public Health System Building in Africa

The opening ceremony of the overseas laboratory technology training programme jointly organised by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) was held on the morning of 3 November at the Wu Lien-teh Laboratory in the Africa CDC headquarters in Ethiopia. Ambassador Jiang Feng, Head of Mission of China to the African Union, and Dr Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa CDC, attended the ceremony and delivered remarks.

In his speech, Ambassador Jiang Feng noted that the headquarters building of Africa CDC, constructed with support from China, has now been put into use. He said that this training course is the first laboratory technology training jointly held by China and Africa at the Africa CDC headquarters, and that it represents a solid step forward in health cooperation between the two sides. He encouraged the participants to make good use of this opportunity, take the advanced techniques back to their own countries and help improve Africa’s overall public health capacity.

Dr Kaseya expressed his sincere thanks to the Chinese government for its long standing support for public health in Africa. He pointed out that this first training course, held at the Wu Lien-teh Laboratory, the Diagnostics, Research and Innovation Excellence Center of Africa CDC, opens a new chapter in public health cooperation between Africa and China. Through three weeks of intensive training and knowledge sharing by Chinese experts, the project will support the training of Africa’s future public health leaders, strengthen local capacity to protect health and further deepen the long term partnership between the two sides.

Dr Zhang Yong, Deputy Director of the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention of China CDC, spoke on behalf of the Chinese experts and extended his congratulations and greetings to all participants. He said that this training takes the cooperation platform directly to the front line in Africa and focuses on key areas such as accurate pathogen detection, antimicrobial resistance analysis and laboratory quality management. He noted that Chinese experts will share practical experience to help improve the application of these technologies in local laboratories. Looking ahead, he said that similar programmes are expected to become more regular and systematic, and will gradually extend to frontier areas such as epidemic early warning, big data and AI assisted decision making. He encouraged the participants to take this programme as a starting point to engage more deeply in the China Africa public health cooperation network and to work together to improve the health and wellbeing of people in Africa. Edgar Simulundu, a participant from Zambia, delivered a speech on behalf of the trainees. He thanked China CDC and Africa CDC for their efforts in organising the programme and said that public health in Africa urgently needs broad partnerships and the chance to learn from advanced experience and technologies. He called on all trainees to make full use of this opportunity, communicate actively with the experts and apply what they learn in their own countries, so as to support the overall development of public health across the continent.

The training programme will run for three weeks and is co organised by Africa CDC. It covers pathogen detection for viruses, bacteria and parasites, high throughput sequencing, bioinformatics and antimicrobial resistance surveillance. The programme aims to train laboratory professionals for Africa CDC and African countries. Through systematic theoretical and practical training for African participants, it will help prepare local technical personnel for the laboratories built with assistance from China.

Ambassador Jiang Feng attends the opening ceremony and delivers remarks 

Dr Zhang Yong, Deputy Director of the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention of China CDC, attends the opening ceremony and delivers remarks 

Thirty participants from sixteen countries attend the opening ceremony 

The inaugural overseas laboratory technology training programme jointly organised by China CDC and Africa CDC opens successfully