- link Copy Url - [ Share on twitter ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=The African Continent Ramps Up Efforts To Crack the Code on Outbreaks https://www.3blmedia.com/markdownify/node/1213476?absolute=1&via=3blnews "link to 3 B L Media's Twitter") - [ Share on linkedin ](https://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://www.3blmedia.com/markdownify/node/1213476?absolute=1 "link to 3 B L Media's Linkedin") - [ Share on facebook ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https://www.3blmedia.com/markdownify/node/1213476?absolute=1 "link to 3 B L Media's Facebook") - [ email Share via email ](mailto:?subject=The African Continent Ramps Up Efforts To Crack the Code on Outbreaks&body=ESG News from Illumina https://www.3blmedia.com/markdownify/node/1213476?absolute=1 "Share via email") [Health & Healthcare](/CSR-News/health-healthcare) # The African Continent Ramps Up Efforts To Crack the Code on Outbreaks Apr 17, 2023 9:30 AM ET Campaign: [Access](/news/campaign/access) ![" "](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_2x/public/images/Illumina_4.14.23A1.jpg "Samuel Oyola, senior scientist and head of genomics at Nairobi's International Livestock Research Institute, near a vat used for long-term storage of specimen samples. Photo by: Sara Jerving / Devex") ![" "](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_2x/public/images/Illumina_4.14.23B1.jpg "Oyola looking at equipment used for genomic sequencing. Photo by: Sara Jerving / Devex") ![" "](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_2x/public/images/Illumina_4.14.23C1.jpg "Equipment used for genomic sequencing. Photo by: Sara Jerving / Devex") ![" "](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_2x/public/images/Illumina_4.14.23D1.jpg "Oyola near a refrigerator full of reagents that are used in the genomic sequencing process. Photo by: Sara Jerving / Devex") ![" "](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_thumbnail_x2/public/images/Illumina_4.14.23A1.jpg?h=2e128ab4 "Samuel Oyola, senior scientist and head of genomics at Nairobi's International Livestock Research Institute, near a vat used for long-term storage of specimen samples. Photo by: Sara Jerving / Devex") ![" "](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_thumbnail_x2/public/images/Illumina_4.14.23B1.jpg?h=2e128ab4 "Oyola looking at equipment used for genomic sequencing. Photo by: Sara Jerving / Devex") ![" "](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_thumbnail_x2/public/images/Illumina_4.14.23C1.jpg?h=2e128ab4 "Equipment used for genomic sequencing. Photo by: Sara Jerving / Devex") ![" "](/sites/default/files/styles/carousel_thumbnail_x2/public/images/Illumina_4.14.23D1.jpg?h=2e128ab4 "Oyola near a refrigerator full of reagents that are used in the genomic sequencing process. Photo by: Sara Jerving / Devex") [Originally published on Devex](https://www.devex.com/news/the-african-continent-ramps-up-efforts-to-crack-the-code-on-outbreaks-105295) By [Sara Jerving](https://www.devex.com/news/authors/sara-j-1322350) On a recent afternoon in Nairobi, Kenya, about two dozen scientists gathered, peering at a screen that to the untrained eye looked like gibberish — rows of letters but no coherent words. The scientists were attending a training to advance skills in the analysis of genomic sequences — a process where the genetic code of an organism is turned into data which reveals information about its characteristics. It’s an important technique in public health to determine what pathogen is inflicting a community and whether it’s mutating. Before the [COVID-19](https://www.devex.com/focus/covid-19) pandemic, only seven African countries had national laboratories equipped to do this. But the need to identify new variants of the virus that causes COVID-19 forced laboratories to ramp up this expertise in an unprecedented way. During the first year of the pandemic, the Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative was launched as a partnership to close gaps in genomics capacity. As part of that partnership, over the past two years, American biotechnology company [Illumina](https://www.devex.com/organizations/illumina-138982) donated over $9 million in sequencing systems, reagents, and training to the continent. [Continue reading the full article here](https://www.devex.com/news/the-african-continent-ramps-up-efforts-to-crack-the-code-on-outbreaks-105295) [![Illumina logo](/sites/default/files/Clients/illumina-logo-blk-JPG_1.JPG)](/profiles/illumina) ### More from Illumina ###### [Children’s Hospital Colorado Delivers Precision Medicine to Kids](/news/childrens-hospital-colorado-delivers-precision-medicine-kids) Jan 28, 2025 10:00 AM ET ###### [Inside the New Illumina MiSeq i100 Series: The making of the Software](/news/inside-new-illumina-miseq-i100-series-making-software) Jan 22, 2025 10:00 AM ET ###### [If There Is a Monster in Loch Ness, This Geneticist Will Find It](/news/if-there-monster-loch-ness-geneticist-will-find-it) Jan 16, 2025 9:30 AM ET ###### [Video: Asking Our Employees Why They Choose Illumina](/news/video-asking-our-employees-why-they-choose-illumina) Dec 18, 2024 9:45 AM ET ###### [Sustainable Sequencing in the New MiSeq i100 Series](/news/sustainable-sequencing-new-miseq-i100-series) Dec 16, 2024 10:00 AM ET ###### [The Growing Case for Whole-Genome Sequencing in All Blood Cancers](/news/growing-case-whole-genome-sequencing-all-blood-cancers) Dec 12, 2024 10:00 AM ET ###### [Independent Testing Proves Dragen Provides a Vastly More Comprehensive Genome](/news/independent-testing-proves-dragen-provides-vastly-more-comprehensive-genome) Dec 10, 2024 2:30 PM ET ###### [Trailblazing Study Shows Early CGP Leads to Better Precision Treatments](/news/trailblazing-study-shows-early-cgp-leads-better-precision-treatments) Nov 22, 2024 3:10 PM ET