GenPath Africa at the 12th EDCTP Forum: Celebrating scientific excellence and leadership
Last week, the 12th EDCTP Forum took place in Kigali, Rwanda on 15-20 June 2025. This bi-annual event represents a unique platform for policymakers, researchers and other stakeholders to advance global health through policy debates, scientific workshops and networking activities.
GenPath Africa was represented by project coordinator Prof Tulio de Oliveira (Stellenbosch University) who took centre stage on multiple occasions throughout the event, bringing exceptional visibility to our project and showcasing the transformative potential of genomic epidemiology in Africa.
The GenEpi Network Symposium
Prof. De Oliveira was a featured speaker at the dynamic GenEpi Network symposium. This key gathering of leading African and European genomic scientists and policymakers and collaborative networks funded by EDCTP and the Gates Foundation was initiated by the GenEpi Network Communications Working Group under the coordination of LINQ management GmbH.
Chaired by the Communications Working Group member Lauren Fromont (Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal)), the symposium opened with remarks from Prof Alan Christoffels (Public Health Alliance for Genomic Epidemiology, (PHA4GE)), who introduced the expansive GenEpi Network, which brings together over 50 institutions from 29 countries. Dr Vito Baraka (ODIN Wastewater Surveillance Project) continued with insights into the role of environmental surveillance in early detection strategies, presenting “Harnessing Environmental Surveillance for Public Health: Wastewater Genomics in the GenEpi Network.”
Prof Tulio de Oliveira closed out the symposium with a presentation highlighting international collaboration to strengthen genomic surveillance efforts in sub-Saharan Africa. As he emphasised, GenPath Africa and its GenEpi Network partners are working together as “A Network to Enhance Rapid Response: Disease Prevention and Outbreak Control” across projects, funders, and continents.
Keynote on Climate Change and Emerging Infections
On the closing day of the Forum, Prof de Oliveira delivered a powerful keynote address on “Climate Change and Emerging Infectious Diseases”. In his speech, he highlighted how climate change is altering disease patterns, bringing diseases like malaria, dengue and viral haemorrhagic fevers to new regions around the globe. As highlighted in this EDCTP Forum article, he advocated for an integrated approach to outbreak preparedness, leveraging genomic surveillance, climate data, and international collaboration: “A stick on its own is fragile, but sticks in a bundle are unbreakable.”
He particularly emphasized the need for capacity building and knowledge exchange between African countries and institutions to strengthen public health responses to infectious diseases across the continent. This focus aligns closely with GenPath Africa’s core mission to strengthen genomic surveillance capacity and help shape the continent’s future health security.
Awarded for Scientific Leadership
As a highlight of a week of impactful engagement, Prof de Oliveira was honoured with this year’s Scientific Leadership Prize for African men, for the pivotal role he played in South Africa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which he helped establish a genomic surveillance network that identified both the beta and omicron variants. The experience gained through the COVID-19 pandemic is now informing GenPath Africa’s work to better diagnose, monitor and clinically manage current and future epidemics.
Congratulations to Prof de Oliveira on this well-deserved recognition! We are proud to work together to advance genomic epidemiology and strengthen public health responses across Africa.
More about the GenEpi Network
The GenEpi Network - co-funded by the Global Health EDCTP3 and the Gates Foundation - is accelerating genomic surveillance across Africa. It connects EDCTP3- and Gates-funded initiatives, promotes cross-project learning, and builds genomic infrastructure and workforce capacity through harmonised training and impactful collaborative science. You can learn more about the network here.
