London hosts an Historic African Gathering

UCL and Chatham House members of PANDORA-ID-NET met with the Director of Africa CDC, Dr John Nkengasong, at Chatham House on 10th October to set goals for joint working.

The PANDORA consortium (Pan-African Network For Rapid Research, Response, Relief and Preparedness for Infectious Disease Epidemics) aims to develop and strengthen effective outbreak response capacities across all geographical regions in sub-Saharan Africa, in partnership with national governments and other international stakeholders.  PANDORA’s steering group includes UCL-TB’s Professor Sir Alimiddin Zumla (one of the project directors), Professor Ibrahim Abubakar, Professor Sarah Edwards and Professor Tim McHugh.

Those attending the PANDORA/CDC meeting were delighted to discover that there was a simultaneous meeting of African faith-based leaders and leaders of malaria control initiatives at the same venue.  The PANDORA/Africa CDC group were invited to join the discussions and share experience.