EUWAM-Lab project: Official handover of a P3 mobile laboratory to the Institut Pasteur of Dakar

EUWAM-Lab, with EUR 2.6M from the budget of the European Union’s CBRN Centres of Excellence Initiative, aimed to set up a mobile laboratory in West Africa for in situ interventions in the event of haemorrhagic fever epidemics and build diagnosis capacities in the region.

This project was implemented by Expertise France in partnership with Inserm, the Mérieux Foundation, the Institut Pasteur of Dakar and the Institut Pasteur of Paris.

The ceremony was held in the presence of the Director of the Institut Pasteur of Dakar, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Expertise France, representatives of the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Health and Social Action and Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, the Head of Cooperation of the Delegation of the EU to Senegal and the Regional Health Advisor of the French Embassy.

High-tech equipment

The laboratory is mounted on a trailer truck, which makes it mobile, and provides a workspace where 2 to 3 people can work at the same time, a microbiology safety cabinet and a “glove box” cabinet allowing work to be done safely on highly pathogenic agents. It operates autonomously thanks to an integrated generator, clean water reserves and a treatment system for solids and liquids.

Building a network of experts available in the event of an epidemic

EUWAM-Lab has also allowed the Institut Pasteur of Paris to train 38 West African experts, scientists and maintenance staff in the deployment of a P3 laboratory and in diagnoses of category 4 viral haemorrhagic fevers. The training sessions were held in the Instituts Pasteur of Dakar in Abidjan and Paris, as well as in Lyon, in the Jean Mérieux P4 laboratory.

Among the 38 experts from 9 French-speaking African countries (Burkina Faso, Benin, Togo, Mauritania, Cameroun, Côté d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali and Senegal), 9 also followed training for trainers in Paris so that they themselves can subsequently train other people.

The transfer of this laboratory free of charge to the Institut Pasteur of Dakar will thereby make it possible to continue training experts from all over the region in diagnosing existing endogenous diseases and in biological safety and security and to build a network of experts rapidly available in the event of an epidemic.