African CDC to Open in 2015
The goal for the agency is to support the continent with active disease surveillance and response
Secretary of State John Kerry signed
an agreement Monday to help establish a Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) in Africa.
The memorandum of cooperation, signed
by Kerry and African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson Nkosanzana
Dlamini Zuma, makes formal the relationship between the United States
CDC and AUC, and mandates the establishment of an African CDC. The new
institute, set to launch in 2015, will work to prevent and respond to
future outbreaks in the continent, like the Ebola epidemic.
“The West African Ebola epidemic
reaffirmed the need for a public health institute to support African
ministries of health and other health agencies in their efforts to
prevent, detect, and respond to any disease outbreak,” said CDC director
Dr. Tom Frieden, in a statement. “This memorandum solidifies the
commitment by the United States to advance public health across Africa
and global health security.”
The formation of an African CDC has been under development
for a few years, and the physical launch of the health institute will
happen later this year. An African Surveillance and Response Unit will
be established with an emergency operations center. Five regional
centers will also be identified with a coordinating center in Ethiopia’s
capital, Addis Ababa. Like the U.S. CDC, there will be epidemiologists
at the various locations who will perform disease surveillance,
investigation and tracking of infection trends. The new unit will also
provide response expertise during large outbreaks.
“With the African CDC in place, these volunteers and
others can be organized to form a deployable force ready to serve Member
States during future health emergency responses on the continent,” said
a CDC statement.
African CDC to Open in 2015
Reviewed by Adegunju Uthman
on
April 14, 2015
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