Three-year initiative will pilot wastewater and environmental surveillance in Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 7 August 2026 – The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) and the European Union have launched the Wastewater Molecular and Genomic Surveillance in African Megacities (WASTEWISE) project, a three-year initiative to strengthen wastewater and environmental surveillance as an integrated early-warning system for epidemic-prone diseases across Africa.
The initiative will initially be piloted in Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Kenya. It will link wastewater surveillance with the pathogen genomics and bioinformatics capacity developed through the Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative (Africa PGI), helping countries detect health threats earlier, monitor transmission at community level and generate evidence for faster public health action.
WASTEWISE was launched during a kick-off meeting and inception workshop held on 29 July 2026 at Africa CDC Headquarters in Addis Ababa. The meeting brought together more than 40 in-person and online participants from national public health institutes, national reference laboratories, research institutions, regional and international organisations, technical partners and implementing institutions.
The launch builds on Africa’s progress in pathogen genomics. Since the establishment of Africa PGI, countries have expanded sequencing capacity, strengthened laboratory systems and developed regional networks that support surveillance for multiple priority pathogens. WASTEWISE will extend these capabilities by integrating wastewater and environmental surveillance into the continent’s public health architecture.
“Surveillance that waits for patients to reach a clinic will always tell the story too late. A single wastewater sample can reflect the health of tens of thousands of people and signal a threat weeks before the first case presents,” said Dr Yenew Kebede, Acting Director of the Centre for Laboratory Diagnostics and Systems at Africa CDC. “Through WASTEWISE, we are linking wastewater surveillance to the genomics and bioinformatics capacity established across African Union Member States through Africa PGI. In this way, African-generated data drives African public health decisions.”
Dr Merawi Aragaw, Head of Surveillance and Disease Intelligence at Africa CDC, said the initiative will use a hub-and-spoke model to create a scalable wastewater and environmental surveillance intelligence system that can be replicated across the continent, while making the best use of existing laboratory and surveillance investments.
“As Africa strengthens its genomic surveillance capacity, wastewater and environmental surveillance offers an unprecedented opportunity to detect pathogens early, monitor transmission at the community level and generate the intelligence needed for faster, more effective public health decisions,” said Mr Nqobile Ndlovu, Chief Executive Officer of ASLM.
Dr Angela Tessarolo, Policy Officer at the European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), described WASTEWISE as a flagship investment in the Africa-European Union partnership. She emphasised the importance of sustained investment in preparedness, alongside emergency response, to help countries detect, anticipate and prevent future health threats.
Representatives of the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa and the Association of Public Health Laboratories also highlighted the importance of regional collaboration in making wastewater and environmental surveillance a routine component of national public health systems.
Africa CDC and its partners called on Member States and partners to build on the momentum generated by WASTEWISE by integrating wastewater and environmental surveillance into routine public health programmes, leveraging existing resources and capacities, and strengthening country ownership. These efforts will support the development of a continent-wide early-warning system capable of protecting communities from future epidemics and pandemics.
Funding and implementation acknowledgement
The WASTEWISE project is implemented under the EU4Health programme by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) and the European Commission’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) (Project 101307608), in collaboration with Africa CDC and ASLM. The kick-off meeting and inception workshop were financed by Africa CDC under budget code CDC100612MB (Fund: PB-CEPI01).
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