African civil society initiatives to drive a biobanking, biosecurity and infrastructure development agenda in the wake of the West African Ebola outbreak

Abstract

This paper describes the formation of a civil society consortium, spurred to action by frustration over the Ebola crises, to facilitate the development of infrastructure and frameworks including policy development to support a harmonized, African approach to health crises on the continent. The Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment Consortium, or GET, is an important example of how African academics, scientists, clinicians and civil society have come together to initiate policy research, multilevel advocacy and implementation of initiatives aimed at building African capacity for timely and effective mitigations strategies against emerging infectious and neglected pathogens, with a focus on biobanking and biosecurity. The consortium has been able to establish it self as a leading voice, drawing attention to scientific infrastructure gaps, the importance of cultural sensitivities, and the power of community engagement. The GET consortium demonstrates how civil society can work together, encourage government engagement and strengthen national and regional efforts to build capacity.

Lessons from the Ebola epidemics and their applications for COVID‐19 pandemic response in sub‐Saharan Africa

“…56 Unfortunately, there is little investment in biorepository and biobank infrastructure for ongoing and future research in SSA. 57 The limited ability to store biological samples and data during the COVID-19 pandemic will significantly limit the conduct of future research in the region. COVID-19 related research should be approved by the appropriate ethics committees, with considerations for research protocols to be fast-tracked.…”

Rapid establishment of a COVID-19 perinatal biorepository: early lessons from the first 100 women enrolled

“…By rapidly amending existing protocols in collaboration with those Principal Investigators and through the volunteered time of Obstetrics and Neonatology clinicians, we were able to rapidly enroll and collect high quality, wide-ranging sample types from pregnant women and their newborns. Attempts to develop biobanks from other devastating pandemics, such as the Ebola crisis in West Africa [ 31 ], have also shown that identifying infrastructure gaps and points of cultural sensitivity are critical to achieving a successful biobank relevant to the population it serves. Data from our group and others have demonstrated that COVID-19 disease has disproportionately affected people of color and lower socioeconomic status [ 22 , 32 – 35 ], widening health disparities.…”

Training Curriculum, Skills, and Competencies for Global Health Leaders: Good Practices and Lessons Learned

“…There has also been a lack of concerted effort to ensure that these leaders contribute to sustainable change-by addressing both challenges related to isolation and burnout, and lack of incentives and support for these workers to build skills and to share knowledge among their teams and within the organizations where they work. In parallel, as the problems faced by health systems around the world continue to become more numerous and complex (e.g., communicable and non-communicable diseases, climate change, rising inequities, and outbreaks, such as Ebola and COVID-19), many have raised the concern that current models for managing these challenges are too fragmented, inefficient, and untenable [18][19][20][21]. Against this backdrop, the audacious vision to support capacity strengthening through partnerships, networking, mentorship, and an explicit focus on leadership and management skills needed for the local context has gained traction among donors and host institutions.…”