The National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) on 10th July, 2024, launched a 10-day training on genomic surveillance in the cross-border ecosystem of western Tanzania. The training was conducted at Maweni Regional Referral Hospital in Kigoma. It targeted building capacity among the frontline healthcare workforce to timely detect and outsmart pathogens of epidemic potential and improve individual clinical management.
In his introductory remarks, Dr. Calvin Sindato, a Health Epidemiologist and Head of NIMR Tabora Station, said that the training of the frontliners represents one of the objectives of the GREATLIFE project involving all the East African countries.
Further, Dr Sindato said that the project targets to decentralize field-deployable, affordable, and mobile genomic surveillance technology to enhance risk-based mitigations against infectious diseases of epidemic potential, including antimicrobial resistance in clinical settings and environments.
“Through the project, the genomic sequencing infrastructure of the health facilities in the cross-border ecosystem will be established.” Said Dr Sindato.
The first cohort of 15 laboratory workforce trainees has been drawn from the Kigoma Regional Referral Hospital, Buhigwe District Council, Kasulu District Council, and Nyarugusu Refugee Camp while the training facilitators were from NIMR and Kilimanjaro Clinical Research Institute.