With help from the World Well being Group (WHO), the Nationwide Public Well being Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) and the Ministry of Well being concluded a residential hands-on in-country coaching on genomic sequencing and bioinformatics on the Nationwide Public Well being Reference Laboratory (NPHRL) from 29 September to 19 October 2024 in Margibi County. Facilitated by a crew of consultants from the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Analysis in Ghana, a complete of 10 nationwide laboratory technicians acquired a 2-week intensive coaching adopted by a 1-week observe session.
Genomic surveillance performs a essential function in monitoring rising pathogen variants. It has develop into a basic international public well being device for detecting, monitoring, and responding to infectious illness outbreaks, as demonstrated by the extreme acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. In the course of the in-country coaching, nationwide laboratory scientists analyzed further mpox-positive samples and detected one other mpox pressure, clade IIb.
“Earlier than the coaching, we had been reliant on worldwide laboratories to determine the circulating pathogen strains. Now, we now have the potential to conduct sequencing and bioinformatics evaluation in-country, enabling us to quickly determine rising pathogens and their geographic origins,” Francis Omega Somah, laboratory technologist on the Nationwide Reference Laboratory in Liberia.
This coaching is a big milestone within the integration of pathogen genomics and bioinformatics into public well being surveillance, outbreak detection, and investigation, which is able to improve illness management and prevention efforts in Liberia. “It is a game-changer for the nation as we’ll now have the nationwide capability to sequence and characterize pathogens of epidemic susceptible illnesses in our nation. We thank WHO for this strategic funding and their steady technical and monetary help in the direction of strengthening Liberia’s capability to detect and handle epidemics,” stated Dr Dougbeh Nyan, Director Common of NPHIL.
In 2022, WHO printed a worldwide genomic surveillance technique to help international locations in increasing their capacities. Sadly, 50% of Member States, together with Liberia, lacked home sequencing capability. To deal with this hole, WHO, beneath the AFRO HERA mission, is supporting six African nations: Liberia, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Comoros, Eritrea, and Togo to determine and strengthen genomic sequencing and bioinformatics capability, thereby increasing detection and genomic surveillance of epidemic-prone precedence pathogens throughout the African Area. WHO has considerably invested on the continent in infectious illness and genomics surveillance.
“An important facet of capability constructing is coaching the best consultants. When a rustic has expert professionals with the best platform, experience, and infrastructure, they will reply swiftly and successfully to public well being emergencies,” stated Dr. Coulibaly Sheik, WHO AFRO Lead Diagnostic and Laboratory Companies Unit.
Dr. Peter Clement, WHO Nation Consultant, thanked the crew of facilitators and WHO AFRO for supporting Liberia by means of the EU-funded mission which is able to strengthen the nation’s laboratory techniques. “By empowering native consultants with the abilities to conduct genomic sequencing and bioinformatics evaluation, we’re guaranteeing that Liberia is best ready to quickly determine rising threats and implement well timed interventions,” stated Dr. Peter Clement, WHO Liberia Consultant.