LEVERAGING AFRICAN GENOMIC SEQUENCING PLATFORMS FOR PUBLIC HEALTH IMPACT

The objectives of our proposed work are well aligned with the goals for the collaboration between the Global Health EDCTP3 and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) joint undertaking under Topic GH-EDCTP3-2022-CALL1-02-02.

The participants listed in this proposal are key members of the Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative (Africa PGI) and the Global Health Network (tGHN).

The participants will leverage these two existing platforms to provide access to expertise and resources in genomics (from AfPGI) and clinical trials research and data science (from tGHN) to EDCTP grantees in genomic epidemiology (hereafter referred to as EDCTP grantees) to be selected under Topic GH-EDCTP3-2022-CALL1-01-03.

Specifically, the grant funds requested for this project will fund one full-time project manager dedicated to supporting coordination activities between EDCTP grantees and the participants.

The project manager will be based at University of the Western Cape and will work closely with Africa CDC (While Africa CDC is not a formal participant in this proposal, (not among the legal entities receiving direct funding) they are core stakeholders and leaders in the project, notably via collaboration with ASLM.)Jointly, these platforms combined with the coordination activities described in this proposal will support as relevant EDCTP3 grantees to implement use-cases in genomic epidemiology and advance the stated objectives above.

Over the past four years, we have seen genomic sequencing programs significantly advance and expand in Africa, helping demonstrate that the goals outlined within this project are measurable, verifiable, and realistically achievable.