Project Lead and Contact:  Dr. Kathrin Schuldt

Project Team: Doris Winter, Theresa Habermann, Dr. Ralf Krumkamp, Dr. Dewi Ismajani Puradiredja
 

The Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe (STP) is an Island state in Sub-Saharan Africa with approximately 200,000 inhabitants. The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the need for larger capacities for laboratories in many countries, including STP. Since 2020, the Department Infectious Disease Epidemiology at BNITM has supported the country’s national reference laboratory for tuberculosis and emerging diseases (Laboratório Nacional de Referência da Tuberculose, LNRTB) as part of the Ministry of Health in implementing laboratory diagnostics of SARS-CoV-2.
Nevertheless, laboratory diagnostics are still improvable as molecular surveillance is only assured for SARS-CoV-2, leaving the potential to address other pathogens that can cause life-threatening infections and have epidemic or pandemic potential. This became especially clear in April 2022 when the first suspected cases of Dengue fever were reported on the island of São Tomé: It showed the need to upgrade laboratory infrastructure and staff to support São Tomé and Príncipe to be better prepared for and respond to future outbreaks and epidemics. Hence, the project builds on its predecessor project and expands its existing cooperation of working together with laboratory and surveillance staff, and laboratory technicians. In particular, methods which have been established for surveillance of SARS-CoV-2, among others, whole genome sequencing and wastewater-based surveillance of viruses, will be used and adapted for high priority pathogens in the country.