Why are biosecurity and biosafety levels across Africa ‘scaring’ experts?

Talkmore Maruta stood on a stage in Lusaka last week and told an audience that he hoped he wouldn’t scare them with what he was about to say next. Maruta, the acting director of programs for the African Society for Laboratory Medicine, gave a talk on preparedness levels for biosafety and biosecurity across the continent during the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention flagship conference last week in Zambia. "Let me warn you that it has been scaring us, and many other people that are working in this field,” he told the audience. The continent has significant gaps in biosafety and biosecurity. This examines how prepared countries are in safely managing pathogens within labs and other settings, and how securely these pathogens are protected from someone with ill intent accessing them, he said. It’s also an analysis of how protected communities, frontline health and immigration workers, among others, are against a pathogen on the move — as is the case during a pandemic when it’s crossing borders. South Africa was the highest-ranking African nation in the prevention of the emergence and release of pathogens, according to the Global Health Security 2021 report, but it stood in 74th place globally, with a 32% ranking. On biosafety, South Africa and Kenya ranked the highest, both with a 50% score. The 42 African Union countries who participated in the World Health Organization's Joint External Evaluation in 2019 had an average of 32% score in biosafety “Our core capacities and core capabilities are very low,” Maruta told Devex after his presentation. “It means if we were to be exposed, either intentional or unintentional, we are not yet there where we can be able to detect — within real time — and then respond effectively and quickly to those potential pathogens.” Setting legislation specifically related to biosafety and biosecurity is the most important step any country can make, he said. Otherwise countries are stunted in enforcing compliance. He said during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, governments faced pushback from populations on the measures they took to contain the virus — with people asking whether the measures were legal and if their rights were being violated. That wouldn’t be the case if the legislation clearly outlined their legality, he said. And legislation also helps countries map out risk. Governments need the legal authority to know which institutions and other entities within their borders are keeping pathogens, and at what stock levels, the ways in which they are stored and destroyed, and if the institutions are moving these pathogens around. "Without appropriate legislation, do you think you can approach an institution and tell them that you need to shut down today because they are not complying or because they aren’t meeting minimum safety biosecurity requirements?” he asked. It’s an issue that spans across society and therefore needs a multisectoral approach, he said. This could include collaborations with the ministries dealing with defense, foreign affairs, agriculture, health, veterinary science, and the environment. But even when there are laws, if there are not enough trained individuals, enforcement of these laws falls short. Maruta said the problem is some people have been engaged in training but it’s largely in an ad hoc way, and not harmonized, standardized, and regionally accepted by African countries. “We are not able to build this surge capacity that we need for preparedness, protection, and that we need for responding when there are emergencies,” he said. But Africa CDC is working to turn this around. In 2019, the agency launched the Biosafety and Biosecurity Initiative to ensure compliance with national and international standards, such as the International Health Regulations, the Biological Weapons Convention, the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540, and the multicountry Global Health Security Agenda. They've also developed a regional biosafety and biosecurity legislative framework that's been approved by African Union structures, which some countries have embraced, and they’ve launched a training and certification program. But there’s a lot of work that lies ahead, Maruta said, and governments need to prioritize these issues with their pocketbooks. “Without the necessary resources, this will remain a dream endeavor in reality,” he said.