The donation of a DNA/RNA sequencing device to The Gambia’s National Public Health Reference Laboratory is not just another handover ceremony at Farato. It is a decisive shift from reaction to readiness.
For years, The Gambia, like many West African nations, has known the painful cost of late detection. From Ebola to COVID-19, we have learned that an outbreak does not wait for reagents to arrive or for samples to be flown abroad. The virus moves faster than bureaucracy.
What WAHO, through PROALAB and with German funding, has delivered - worth over €1 million in equipment, training, installation and support for both human and veterinary labs - is time. The precious time to detect, identify and contain a threat before it becomes a crisis.
As Dr. Olivier Manigart rightly said, this is about preparedness and resilience. This newspaper agrees completely.
Some points that deserve commendation and reflection are: firstly, the One Health Approach is no longer optional. By supporting both the National Public Health Laboratory and the Central Veterinary Laboratory, PROALAB acknowledges what science has long told us: human health, animal health and environmental health are one. Over 70% of emerging infectious diseases are zoonotic. Strengthening both ends of that chain in The Gambia is not duplication; it is common sense.
2Secondly; equipment without expertise is scrap metal. What makes this intervention credible is that it combines hardware with humanware - training, calibration, quality mentorship to lift our labs to three-star standard, and collaboration with MRCG Fajara as a centre of excellence for genomic sequencing. We urge the Ministry of Health to ensure retention of these trained specialists. Too often, investment in capacity is lost to brain drain and poor conditions of service.
And also sustainability matters. Donations are welcome, but maintenance is sovereign. The Ministry must now budget for reagents, consumables, servicing and uninterrupted power supply for this sophisticated equipment. A sequencing machine that sits idle for lack of cartridges is worse than not having one at all, because it breeds false confidence.
Thus, we commend WAHO Director General Prof. Palokinam Pitche, ECOWAS-RCSDC, the German Government and KfW for this partnership model - pooling resources, harmonizing policy, and building regional solidarity. We also commend DPS Musa Camara and the Ministry of Health leadership for providing the new infrastructure at Farato to house this technology.
Health, as DPS Camara noted, is the gateway to sustainable development. You cannot build a resilient economy on a fragile health system.
Let this €1 million not just strengthen lab services. Let it strengthen our resolve that the next outbreak will meet The Gambia ready, equipped, and sequencing its own future.