Africa Shifts Strategy: Labs as Permanent Infrastructure, Not Emergency Assets

The consensus emerging from the Roche Africa Press Day in Kenya marks a pivotal shift in the continent's approach to global health security. For decades, laboratory systems across Africa have been treated as reactive emergency assets—activated during outbreaks and neglected during periods of relative stability. Dr. Lucy Mazyanga of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and other health leaders are now calling for these systems to be recognized as essential, permanent infrastructure. This shift is not merely semantic; it represents a move toward embedding laboratory services within routine national health financing frameworks, ensuring that equipment, workforce capacity, and supply chains remain robust regardless of the current epidemiological climate.

The timing of this advocacy is critical, as it aligns with the global pandemic preparedness resolution adopted at the 78th World Health Assembly (WHA). Negotiations are currently underway for a legally binding pandemic agreement, which is expected to reach a conclusion ahead of the 79th WHA in May 2026. A central pillar of this agreement is Article 12, which establishes the Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing (PABS) system. This framework is designed to ensure that the global community can detect pathogens with pandemic potential as early as possible by mandating the rapid sharing of genetic sequencing data and pathogen samples. In exchange, the system aims to guarantee a fair distribution of the resulting vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics—a direct response to the vaccine nationalism that characterized the COVID-19 response.

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The consensus emerging from the Roche Africa Press Day in Kenya marks a pivotal shift in the continent's approach to global health security.

Dr. Sultani Matendechero of the Kenya Ministry of Health emphasized that the proposed agreement introduces stronger, obligatory compliance for Member States. This is a significant departure from the International Health Regulations used during the COVID-19 pandemic, where many provisions were discretionary. During that crisis, the lack of mandatory sharing and benefit-sharing protocols contributed to a fragmented global response and inequitable access to life-saving tools. By moving toward a legally binding framework, African nations hope to secure a more predictable and equitable environment for health technology exchange. However, the success of such a framework depends heavily on the underlying infrastructure. Without advanced genomic science, digital surveillance, and integrated diagnostic platforms, the ability to contribute to and benefit from the PABS system remains limited.

The deeper issue, as identified by Dr. Mazyanga, is the sustainability of these systems. During outbreaks, funding flows quickly for diagnostics and surveillance, but when the emergency subsides, resources often decline. This leads to a cycle where laboratories struggle to maintain high-tech equipment or retain a specialized workforce. To break this cycle, health leaders argue that laboratory services must be treated as a core component of the health system, funded through regular national budgets rather than temporary emergency grants. This would allow for the continuous operation of genomic sequencing and digital surveillance tools, which are vital for early detection of new threats.