Addis Ababa/Brussels — The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the European Commission today announced the launch of the Partnership to Accelerate Mpox Testing and Sequencing in Africa (PAMTA), a landmark initiative to boost diagnostics and outbreak response capabilities in Mpox-affected African countries.
Co-funded under the EU4Health 2024 Work Programme, PAMTA reflects the growing momentum of Africa-EU health cooperation and aims to reinforce the continent's resilience against current and future health threats. The initiative will accelerate testing, sequencing, capacity building, and local manufacturing efforts for mpox and other priority pathogens across Africa through a €9.4 million to Africa CDC and the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), managed by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA). The project officially began on 1 June 2025 and will be implemented over three years.
Africa CDC Director General, H.E. Dr Jean Kaseya, welcomed the initiative as a timely and strategic intervention to close the diagnostic gap for Mpox and other outbreaks in Africa. "This partnership reflects our commitment to working with trusted partners to build agile and self-reliant public health systems across Africa. Together with the EU and our technical partners, we are setting a new benchmark for outbreak detection and response."
The PAMTA initiative focuses on four key objectives: scaling up Mpox testing with the goal of supporting over 150,000 tests across the continent; strengthening genomic sequencing capacity to track viral evolution and spread; building human resource capacity in molecular diagnostics, genomics, bioinformatics and data interpretation; and promoting the production and validation of locally developed testing kits within Africa.
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"PAMTA marks a historic milestone as the first initiative jointly signed between the European Commission and Africa CDC," said Deputy Head of DG HERA, Laurent Muschel. "Building on HERA's earlier donation of Mpox vaccines, this action enables a critical next step: strengthening diagnostic capacities as part of a broader medical countermeasures approach. It reflects our shared commitment to reinforcing epidemic preparedness across Africa -- from vaccines to diagnostics, from innovation to manufacturing. This action shows that, together, the African Union and the European Union can deliver tangible results to protect lives."
The launch of PAMTA builds on broader efforts by the EU and its partners to address the Mpox outbreak. By mid-2025, more than 600,000 vaccine doses had been delivered to African countries through HERA and Team Europe. Simultaneously, research initiatives such as MPX-RESPONSE and EDCTP3 continue to explore new therapeutic options, while the Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative (PGI)--also funded through EU4Health--is enhancing public health laboratory networks and genomic surveillance across the continent through public private partnerships.
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PAMTA marks a significant milestone in EU-Africa collaboration for health resilience. By supporting comprehensive diagnostics and fostering local innovation, the initiative is helping to lay a strong foundation for Africa's long-term pandemic preparedness and response capabilities.
