Kenya hosts key forum on disease surveillance, public health

Kenya has called for concerted efforts to strengthen disease surveillance in the region and the continent.

Health CS Deborah Barasa on Thursday acknowledged that communicable diseases, both established and emergent, continue to present significant challenges to public health, not only in Africa but also globally.

She called on the African countries to borrow lessons from Covid-19 and Mpox virus, and underscored the need to closely monitor the safety and effectiveness of interventions deployed to combat these diseases.

Barasa sais this in a speech during the ongoing African Union Smart Safety Surveillance (AU-3S) Steering Committee Meeting in Mombasa.

The speech was read on her behalf by the acting Director General of Public Health and Professional Standards Sultan Matendechero.

The meeting aims to advance health product safety and enhance collaborative efforts across Africa, continuing the continent’s progress in safeguarding public health.

The AU-3S initiative was launched in early 2020 under the auspices of the African Union Development Agency-NEPAD (AUDA-NEPAD) and supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The aim of the initiative is to support safety surveillance systems in Africa through the AU-3S Programme.

An initiative began with five founding countries; Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa towards establishing a robust and responsive safety surveillance system.

Currently, it has expanded to include seven additional countries; the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda.

The meeting being held from September 12 to 13, is being attended by Heads of African national regulatory agencies, senior officials from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, US FDA, and AUDA-NEPAD.

The CS noted that the expansion underscores Africa’s commitment to improving patient safety and public health.

“We anticipate continued support to strengthen the monitoring of health products. Our efforts include acquiring data collection equipment for active safety surveillance of Covid-19 vaccines and improving regulatory decision-making through joint signal management,” she said.

Running from the 12th to 13th of September 2024, the meeting is attended by Heads of African National Regulatory Agencies, senior officials from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, US FDA, and AUDA-NEPAD.

Through the programme, Kenya’s Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) has been able to enhance reporting rates of adverse events following Covid-19 vaccination, driven by routine capacity building of healthcare providers in safety surveillance and reporting.

It has also been able to acquire data collection equipment to facilitate the concluded active safety surveillance of Covid-19 vaccines.

The board has also developed and gazetted of legal provisions on Pharmacovigilance (PV/PMS rules, 2022) which support the implementation of PV activities in alignment with WHO maturity level 3.

“This initiative exemplifies Africa's dedication to enhancing patient safety and safeguarding public health,” PPB CEO Fred Siyoi said.