Brazzaville, 6 November 2008 -- The WHO Regional Office for Africa, in collaboration with WHO Headquarters, partners and the Kenyan Medical Research Institute organized a laboratory capacity building training workshop from 15 to 19 September in Nairobi for 46 participants

The aim of the workshop was to strengthen and build laboratory capacity to improve Africa’s response to diagnosing dangerous pathogens such as the highly pathogenic H5N1.

Participants from 23 French- and Portuguese-speaking African countries took part in the workshop facilitated by biosafety and biosecurity experts from WHO Biosafety Collaborating Centres and international organizations, among others. As part of the workshop, a special session on the transportation of infectious substances was organized for participants.

The workshop targeted directors of national central laboratories, including veterinarian laboratories. In 2007, participants from 23 African countries benefited from a similar training at the same venue, thus effectively providing coverage in capacity building in this area for all the 46 Member States in the African Region.

A report on the conference received in Brazzaville on 3 November said that laboratory capacity building was particularly crucial in the African Region which was regularly affected by outbreaks caused by highly dangerous pathogens such as Ebola and Marburg.

Biosafety aims to prevent the accidental release of pathogens and toxins to laboratory workers, the general population, and the environment, while biosecurity aims to prevent the deliberate theft or diversion of high-risk biological agents for use in bioterrorism or biological weapons proliferation.

A good security system will relies not only on physical security measures and technologies, but must also incorporate a variety of other components, including personnel security, information security, transport security, and material control and accountability.

For more information, please contact:

Technical contacts

Dr Dr Jean Bosco Ndihokubwayo
Tel: + 47 241 39 269
Email: ndihokubwayoj [at] afro.who.int 

Media contact

Mr. Samuel T. Ajibola
Tel: + 47 241 39378
Email : ajibolas [at] afro.who.int