STRAIN

Context

There is an urgent need to strengthen diagnostic capacities for Yersinia pestis and Vibrio cholerae in Madagascar. Yersinia pestis is endemic in the country and therefore represents a major public health concern. Vibrio cholerae is gaining increasing importance both locally and globally in the context of climate change and has recently attracted heightened attention, particularly following an outbreak in the Comoros. The STRAIN project builds on the GHPP Phase 2 project ABCM. Within this framework, staff from the “Centre for Biological Threats and Special Pathogens, Highly Pathogenic Microbial Agents” (ZBS2) at the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) work together with the Malagasy partner institution, the Laboratoire d’Analyses Médicales Malagasy (LA2M), to establish national diagnostic capacities. The focus is on infectious agents of particular relevance to Madagascar, especially in the field of diagnostics for highly pathogenic bacteria. The targeted expansion of laboratory capacities strengthens national surveillance and enables their integration into One Health approaches. This enhances preparedness for future outbreak events and supports a more effective response to public health threats.

Objective

Improved diagnostics of bacterial pathogens in Madagascar by supporting the establishment of the first national reference laboratory in public ownership

In Cooperation with

• Laboratoire d’Analyses Médicales Malagasy (LA2M) of the Ministry of Health of Madagascar (MoH), Antanarivo, Madagascar