Tunis, Tunisia — The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), with support from the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), successfully concluded a two-day Regional Consultative Meeting aimed at identifying key priorities for the upcoming 2025–2030 Biosafety and Biosecurity (BSBS) Strategy.
Hosted by the Government of Tunisia, the meeting convened national representatives from Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia to review progress under the current strategy, share country-specific updates, and collectively define regional priorities to strengthen BSBS systems across North Africa.
The Regional Biosafety and Biosecurity Initiative (BBI), launched in 2019 by Africa CDC in collaboration with African Union (AU) Member States and global partners, seeks to build continental capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to biological threats. The initiative supports Member States in aligning with key international and regional frameworks, including the International Health Regulations (IHR), UN Security Council Resolution 1540, the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC), and the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA).
Following a comprehensive regional consultative process, Africa CDC developed its first Five-Year Strategy (2021–2025), implemented with support from Global Affairs Canada through the G7-led Global Partnership’s Signature Initiative to Mitigate Biological Threats in Africa (SIMBA), as well as funding from the World Bank. In May 2025, an end-of-strategy evaluation was conducted to assess impact, capture lessons learned, and guide the development of the next strategic framework.
During the North Africa consultation, each country presented progress on national implementation and proposed key priorities. Through a collaborative process, participants identified a set of regional priorities to inform the 2025–2030 BSBS Strategy. Similar consultations will be held across East, Central, Southern, and West Africa, culminating in a comprehensive continental roadmap grounded in regional insights.
Prof. Fares Khalid, Chair of the North Africa Regional BSBS Technical Working Group, emphasized the value of inclusive engagement:
“This process of consulting Member States is central to ensuring the strategy reflects our priorities and that the solutions are context-based.”
In her opening remarks, Dr. Rym Ben Khelifa from the Institut Pasteur de Tunis welcomed regional delegates and noted:
“As Tunisia, we are honoured to host countries from across the region for this critical exercise. Identifying shared priorities is essential to strengthening our biosafety and biosecurity capacities over the next five years.”
Dr. Wessam Mankoula, Regional Director of the North Africa Regional Coordinating Centre (RCC), underscored the urgency and ambition of the next phase:
“Biosafety is not a luxury, it is a strategic necessity for sovereignty, security, and resilience. The line between natural outbreaks and the deliberate misuse of biological agents is vanishing, and Africa can no longer afford to be underprepared. With foresight, collaboration, and investment, we can transform bio-risks into opportunities to build stronger systems, protect our people, and secure our future. Africa must not only participate in global biosafety dialogues, we must lead them.”
He added:
“The 2025–2030 Strategy must be more ambitious—aiming to institutionalize biosafety and biosecurity across public health systems, research institutions, and border control mechanisms in all 55 AU Member States.”
Peter Bundy, Counsellor for Political and Regional Security at the Canadian Embassy in Tunisia, also addressed participants, reaffirming Canada’s commitment to regional biosecurity:
“While the challenges before us are significant, we must not be discouraged. We have assembled the right partners to confront them together. Today, we stand as a community of experts and collaborators, united by our knowledge, commitment, and shared spirit of cooperation. As we chart the course for our next five-year strategy, let us engage in open, constructive dialogue, sharpening our approaches, reinforcing our partnerships, and ensuring our efforts remain grounded in the needs and aspirations of the communities we serve.”
Africa CDC’s regional consultations represent a critical step toward shaping a coordinated, resilient, and future-ready biosafety and biosecurity agenda for the continent.