Global Health Collaboration: Unlocking the Power of Genomics (2025)

Collaboration for Greater Impact: The PHA4GE Conference and IPSN Global Partners Forum 2025

The 2025 PHA4GE Conference and IPSN Global Partners Forum in Cape Town, South Africa, brought together over 270 global experts, including scientists, policymakers, funders, and public health professionals. This three-day event, co-hosted by the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence and the WHO Regional Office for Africa, focused on the theme 'Data for Action: Overcoming Challenges and Seizing Opportunities in Public Health Genomics'.

Global Genomic Surveillance and the WHO's Strategy

The forum served as a pivotal moment for advancing the WHO's Global Genomic Surveillance Strategy for Pathogens with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential (2022-2032). This ten-year strategy aims to strengthen global genomic surveillance capacities. During the forum, participants reviewed a proposed three-year roadmap, developed through a hybrid workshop involving 14 organizations from 11 countries.

Key takeaways from the roadmap include:
- Institutionalization: Establishing genomic surveillance through tools, policies, networks, and frameworks.
- Investment Alignment: Coordinating investments and advocating for evidence-based practices.
- Data Ecosystems: Creating coordinated data ecosystems aligned with national and regional priorities.

IPSN Catalytic Grant Fund: Empowering Global Surveillance

The IPSN Catalytic Grant Fund, administered by the United Nations Foundation, was launched in 2024 to support low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in implementing innovative pathogen genomic surveillance solutions. This fund is backed by prominent organizations like the Rockefeller Foundation, the Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, and the Institute of Philanthropy.

Three projects from the first round of funding were highlighted:
- Lao PDR: Environmental genomic surveillance of avian influenza in live-bird markets.
- Brazil: RT-MetA, an offline-capable, open-source framework for decentralized, real-time pathogen genomic surveillance.
- Democratic Republic of the Congo: Genomic surveillance of drug-resistant pathogens using the Mini-Lab with a Nanopore MinION sequencer.

PHA4GE Sub-Grants: Fostering Sustainable Development

The Public Health Alliance for Genomic Epidemiology (PHA4GE) is a global consortium established in 2019 to ensure rapid global responses to disease outbreaks. During the event, PHA4GE members presented their sub-grants, funded by the Gates Foundation, focusing on:
- Bioinformatics
- Ethics and Data Sharing
- Wastewater Environmental Surveillance

Since 2019, PHA4GE has developed genomic surveillance standards for anti-microbial resistance (AMR), SARS-CoV-2, and wastewater. Usability testing, interoperability, and completeness of these standards for local and global public health applications were ensured through 29 sub-grants awarded to public health labs and researchers. Eight sub-grants also promoted ethical data sharing of genomic data.

The sub-grants collectively represented 24 LMICs, showcasing PHA4GE's commitment to inclusive approaches and cross-sector collaboration in building resilient, data-driven public health systems.

Looking Ahead: Turning Data into Actionable Insights

The outcomes of the forum will significantly influence future strategies, transforming genomic data into actionable insights for global health impact. PHA4GE continues to support training, standards development, and promoting best practices in genomic epidemiology, ensuring a coordinated and effective global response to public health challenges.