ARC, WAHO and Institut Pasteur de Dakar hold a workshop to define the work plan and governance of their Alliance

Following its establishment in July 2022, the Alliance between the African Risk Capacity (ARC), the West African Health Organization (WAHO) and the Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD) held a technical workshop on September 12 and 13 in Dakar to develop its work plan and governance framework.

The mission of this Alliance is to help strengthen epidemic preparedness and response in ECOWAS countries by fostering an integrated approach that prioritizes solutions based on the expertise of pan-African, regional, and national organizations.

“The Alliance emerged from a reflection on the need to pool the expertise and ambitious objectives of each organization in order to create synergies to fight diseases with epidemic potential proactively and to no longer endure them. The work of this Alliance will focus on sharing expertise and innovation to build sustainable epidemic preparedness and response capacity in ECOWAS member states,” said Dr. Amadou Bah, Senior Public Health and Country Liaison Officer at the African Risk Capacity (ARC).

“The vision of a more resilient Africa to pandemics and health emergencies is the goal that drives us. This workshop has given us the opportunity to reflect together on the best way to achieve this and I have no doubt that we are on the right track,” said Dr. Ousmane Faye, Director of Research at the Pasteur Institute of Dakar.

“The alliance will contribute to significantly improve epidemic preparedness and response in West Africa, based on innovative and integrated strategies according to the One Health approach for better resilience to public health emergencies,” said Dr. Abdourahmane SOW, Senior Medical Epidemiologist and Head of Laboratory Services in charge of epidemic control and public health laboratory at WAHO.

This event, which was organized by the consulting firm AfriCatalyst with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, allowed representatives of the Alliance members and independent experts who took part in the work to exchange on the technical aspects of these strategic issues that are essential for the effectiveness and impact of the new structure.

Discussions among participants identified several areas in which ARC, WAHO and IPD can collaborate to achieve the goals they have set for themselves in their partnership.