"Powerful Partnership: Scientists Unite to Prevent Future Pandemics"
Originally Published 2 years ago — by MPR News
Pardis Sabeti and Christian Happi, long-time collaborators and founders of the African Centre of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID), are developing an early-warning system called Sentinel to detect and diagnose emerging illnesses in Africa. By empowering local healthcare workers and providing them with the tools and training to identify pathogens, ACEGID aims to prevent future pandemics by enabling faster and more accurate detection. Their efforts have already proven successful during the Ebola outbreak, where ACEGID's ability to diagnose the virus in hours instead of weeks or days helped contain the spread and minimize deaths in Nigeria. The impact of their work was further demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, with ACEGID-equipped hospitals in Africa having COVID diagnostics before those in the United States. ACEGID's mission is to create a continent of people who are united in their response to outbreaks, emphasizing the importance of coordination and camaraderie in stopping pandemics.