Regional Conference on Epidemiological Surveillance and Health Emergency Response Kicks off

The Ministry of Health launched on Monday in Nouakchott a regional conference on epidemiological surveillance and response to health emergencies, in collaboration with the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), and in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Center for Disease Control (ECDC).

The conference aims to share experiences from the borders between North African countries, and test the ability to make quick decisions in simulated conditions similar to emergency response.

Overseeing the launch of the conference, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, Ms. Alia Yahya Menkous, called for strengthening inter-African cooperation to address the growing health challenges.

She emphasized that today’s meeting comes at a critical global and regional health moment, noting that the African continent is witnessing an alarming rise in risks associated with vaccine-preventable diseases as a result of increased population mobility, climate change, and poor health infrastructure in border and remote areas.

She added that the ambitious goal of the workshop reflects a collective awareness of the need to move from individual approaches to coordinated and comprehensive collective mechanisms, based on sharing information and vital resources, increasing surveillance, diagnostic and immunization capabilities, and improving communication and community participation on both sides of the border.

The Secretary-General noted that Mauritania, under the wise leadership of H.E. President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, attaches exceptional importance to health security, stressing that this is reflected in the ongoing reforms of the health system, which include enhancing the skills of staff, improving supply chains, and developing monitoring and response capabilities, especially in border areas.

For his part, the Regional Director for North Africa of the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Mr. Wissam Mankhala, said that Nouakchott’s location as a gateway to the Atlantic Ocean and a corridor to the African depths puts it at the center of the epidemiological geography that this conference is concerned with.

He added that political borders do not restrict social or economic movements in Africa, but rather need to redefine “health sovereignty” as a shared responsibility, not individual ones like viruses like measles and polio, which do not require a passport, but exploit every loophole in the lack of coordination between neighboring countries.

The launch ceremony was attended by a number of representatives of African countries and regional organizations working in the health field.