{"id":22381,"date":"2025-07-31T09:59:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T06:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/?post_type=news-item&p=22381"},"modified":"2025-07-31T06:39:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T03:39:06","slug":"africa-cdc-and-european-commission-launch-new-initiative-to-strengthen-mpox-testing-and-sequencing-across-africa","status":"publish","type":"news-item","link":"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/news-item\/africa-cdc-and-european-commission-launch-new-initiative-to-strengthen-mpox-testing-and-sequencing-across-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa CDC and European Commission Launch New Initiative to Strengthen Mpox Testing and Sequencing Across Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ADDIS ABABA\/BRUSSELS | 31 July 2025 \u2014 <\/strong>The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the European Commission today announced the launch of the Partnership to Accelerate Mpox Testing and Sequencing in Africa (PAMTA), a landmark initiative to boost diagnostics and outbreak response capabilities in Mpox-affected African countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Co-funded under the EU4Health 2024 Work Programme, PAMTA reflects the growing momentum of Africa\u2013EU health cooperation and aims to reinforce the continent\u2019s resilience against current and future health threats. The initiative will accelerate testing, sequencing, capacity building, and local manufacturing efforts for mpox and other priority pathogens across Africa through a \u20ac9.4 million to Africa CDC and the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), managed by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). The project officially began on 1 June 2025 and will be implemented over three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Africa CDC Director General, H.E. Dr Jean Kaseya, welcomed the initiative as a timely and strategic intervention to close the diagnostic gap for Mpox and other outbreaks in Africa. \u201cThis partnership reflects our commitment to working with trusted partners to build agile and self-reliant public health systems across Africa. Together with the EU and our technical partners, we are setting a new benchmark for outbreak detection and response.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PAMTA initiative focuses on four key objectives: scaling up Mpox testing with the goal of supporting over 150,000 tests across the continent; strengthening genomic sequencing capacity to track viral evolution and spread; building human resource capacity in molecular diagnostics, genomics, bioinformatics and data interpretation; and promoting the production and validation of locally developed testing kits within Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPAMTA marks a historic milestone as the first initiative jointly signed between the European Commission and Africa CDC,\u201d said Deputy Head of DG HERA, Laurent Muschel. \u201cBuilding on HERA\u2019s earlier donation of Mpox vaccines, this action enables a critical next step: strengthening diagnostic capacities as part of a broader medical countermeasures approach. It reflects our shared commitment to reinforcing epidemic preparedness across Africa \u2014 from vaccines to diagnostics, from innovation to manufacturing. This action shows that, together, the African Union and the European Union can deliver tangible results to protect lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The launch of PAMTA builds on broader efforts by the EU and its partners to address the Mpox outbreak. By mid-2025, more than 600,000 vaccine doses had been delivered to African countries through HERA and Team Europe. Simultaneously, research initiatives such as MPX-RESPONSE and EDCTP3 continue to explore new therapeutic options, while the Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative (PGI)\u2014also funded through EU4Health\u2014is enhancing public health laboratory networks and genomic surveillance across the continent through public private partnerships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAMTA marks a significant milestone in EU\u2013Africa collaboration for health resilience. By supporting comprehensive diagnostics and fostering local innovation, the initiative is helping to lay a strong foundation for Africa\u2019s long-term pandemic preparedness and response capabilities.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

#####<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NOTE TO EDITORS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Africa CDC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is a public health agency of the African Union. It is autonomous and supports member states in strengthening health systems. It also helps improve disease surveillance, emergency response, and disease control. Learn more at: http:\/\/www.africacdc.org<\/a> and connect with us on LinkedIn<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, Facebook<\/a> and YouTube<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

About EU HERA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HERA, established in September 2021<\/strong><\/a>, is a critical actor in strengthening Europe’s ability to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to cross-border health emergencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is also a key pillar of the European Health Union<\/a>, which the European Commission first put forward in November 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and as a means to prepare for future public health emergencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MEDIA CONTACTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Africa CDC<\/strong>

Margaret Edwin
Director of Communications and Public InformationEdwinM@africacdc.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ADDIS ABABA\/BRUSSELS | 31 July 2025 \u2014 The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the European Commission today announced the launch of the Partnership to Accelerate Mpox Testing and Sequencing in Africa (PAMTA), a landmark initiative to boost diagnostics and outbreak response capabilities in Mpox-affected African countries. Co-funded under the EU4Health 2024 Work Programme, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":22382,"template":"","tags":[1125,1124],"thematic-area":[891,122],"region":[64,65,62,66,63],"country":[],"news-type":[7],"disease-category":[862],"class_list":["post-22381","news-item","type-news-item","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-mpox-sequencing","tag-mpox-testing","thematic-area-genomics-and-bioinformatics","thematic-area-laboratory-services-and-networks","region-central-africa","region-eastern-africa","region-northern-africa","region-southern-africa","region-western-africa","news-type-press-releases","disease-category-mpox"],"yoast_head":"\nAfrica CDC and European Commission Launch New Initiative to Strengthen Mpox Testing and Sequencing Across Africa – Africa CDC<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/africacdc.org\/news-item\/africa-cdc-and-european-commission-launch-new-initiative-to-strengthen-mpox-testing-and-sequencing-across-africa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Africa CDC and European Commission Launch New Initiative to Strengthen Mpox Testing and Sequencing Across Africa – Africa CDC\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ADDIS ABABA\/BRUSSELS | 31 July 2025 \u2014 The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the European Commission today announced the launch of the Partnership to Accelerate Mpox Testing and Sequencing in Africa (PAMTA), a landmark initiative to boost diagnostics and outbreak response capabilities in Mpox-affected African countries. 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