'Mistrust among African countries hindering disease outbreak response'

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Unwillingness of African countries to share data among themselves is hindering disease outbreak response, New Vision Online has learnt.   

The revelations came to light during a three-day project review meeting, which started on March 10, 2025, where seven African countries are collaborating on generating sequencing data for cholera at Protea hotel in Entebbe, Wakiso district.

Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) director Prof. Pontiano Kaleebu said, "how can we trust each other? The more data you have, the better the interpretation".

Kaleebu urged the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the East African Community (EAC) that they can help to ensure ethical data sharing.

Prof. Pontiano Kaleebu, Director Uganda Virus Research Institute, speaking during the Africa Genomics Workshop at Protea Hotel Entebbe. (Courtesy)

"For a long time, African countries have not worked collaboratively, but we have had strong partnerships with the western collaborators from Europe and the US, mainly because they are often the primary sources of funding," he said.

Isaac Ssewanyana, the laboratory director of the National Health Laboratory and Diagnostics Services (NHLDS), said they now actively collaborate proactively among African countries, 'that’s why it is important to build trust among themselves'.

"Sequencing is when we read the genome of the parasite. This information is important because they get to understand how related the different Cholera strains that cause outbreaks in the different countries are and how related or how different they are".

Ssewanyana said there is a need for relationship-building, confidence-building, and trust-building, something they have achieved with the Northern Hemisphere collaborators but not among African countries themselves.

He said the flow of information between nations will go a long way to help manage outbreaks.

"For example, before the recent Marburg outbreak in Rwanda, there was an earlier one in Tanzania. If information does not flow between Rwanda and Tanzania, we may perceive these as separate outbreaks. However, by comparing data, we can quickly identify patterns because diseases do not recognise borders or national territories, adding that this makes data sharing essential," Ssewanyana said.

He said access to timely and accurate information is critical in shaping the response. Adding that sharing data allows them to compare and analyse situations across countries.

Dr Yenew Kebede, the acting director Centre for Laboratory diagnostics and systems Africa CDC, said it’s important for Africa CDC, to build a collaboration amongst African countries and the flow of information will go a long way to help in managing outbreaks.