A capacity strengthening model toward self-reliant and sustainable one-health workforce in six East African Community Partner States

Abstract

The burden of infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Africa highlights the critical need for strengthened genomic surveillance capacities that are embedded within the national public health framework. In the East African Community (EAC), this challenge is compounded by limited infrastructure and insufficient workforce capacity in bioinformatics and genomics, particularly within National Public Health Laboratories (NPHLs). This paper describes the implementation of a regional capacity-building initiative based on a multi-phase Training-of-Trainers (ToT) model across six EAC Partner States. Anchored in a One Health framework, the initiative focused on equipping public health professionals within NPHLs with practical skills in pathogen genomics, AMR analysis, and bioinformatics workflows, while also supporting the institutionalization of standardized procedures and tools. Through modular training, in-country cascade sessions, and structured mentorship, the program enabled integration of genomic approaches into public health surveillance activities. Despite infrastructural and operational constraints, the initiative supported measurable gains in applied proficiency, routine use of genomics tools in surveillance tasks, and regional coordination on pathogen data analysis. This case study outlines the program's design, implementation, and observed outcomes, and offers a transferable framework for workforce and systems development in low-resource settings. This experience contributes to ongoing global discussions on equitable genomic surveillance and preparedness by demonstrating how structured, context-specific training can support sustainable adoption of genomics within national public health institutions.

Keywords: East African Community (EAC); National Public Health Laboratories (NPHLs); One Health; Training-of-Trainers (ToT); antimicrobial resistance (AMR); bioinformatics capacity building; genomic surveillance.

Figure 1

Overview of the Bioinformatics Training ofs Trainers (ToT) program in the East African Community (EAC). (A) EAC Partner States participating in the ToT program. (B) Structure and timeline of the three training phases (AMR bioinformatics, viral bioinformatics, and genomic epidemiology) and the workshop on high-performance computing (HPC) for NGS data analysis.

Figure 2

Proposed Bioinformatics capacity building framework. The figure presents a high-level framework for establishing sustainable bioinformatics capacity, particularly in resource-constrained environments. The framework builds on three pillars: Infrastructure Development (1), Workforce Development and Capacity Building (2), and Mentorship and Institutional Support (3). Each pillar outlines key objectives, challenges, and strategic actions to address those challenges. The framework emphasizes a holistic approach that combines technical infrastructure, skilled personnel, and supportive policies to enable sustainable and resilient pathogen genomics and bioinformatics capabilities.