7 Jan 2026
The webinar, “Utilising Environmental Surveillance to Advance Public Health Action in Africa: The ODIN Wastewater Surveillance Project Experience,” was held on 4 December 2025 from 1:00–2:45 p.m. (UK time). Hosted by The Global Health Network (ODIN WP7), and chaired by Dr Paul Kingpriest, the session attracted 316 registrants from 64 countries (130 live participants). Registrations were driven through the TGHN newsletter, partner dissemination, and social media, reflecting strong global interest in environmental and genomic surveillance in low- and middle-income countries.
The webinar showcased the ODIN Consortium’s approach to strengthening Africa-led pathogen surveillance through environmental and wastewater monitoring, genomic sequencing, mobile laboratories, and workforce development. Professor Rolf Lood outlined ODIN’s long-term vision for sustainable, country-owned surveillance systems. Dr Evodie Ngelesi highlighted the integration of the ODIN project and the ODIN-Mpox projects and how the challenging political context in DRC is being navigated. Professor Tarja Pitkänen presented sampling experiences from Tanzania, Burkina Faso, and the DRC, highlighting wastewater and water-source surveillance. Technical contributions included mobile laboratory deployment (Dr Adriana Krolicka), workforce strengthening (Dr Vito Baraka), scalable bioinformatics systems (Dr Sakina Bombaywala), and integration with Water and Sanitation Safety Plans (Dr Marc Christian Tahita). Dr Fadima Yaya Bocoum concluded with an economic analysis of implementation costs.
Interactive discussion highlighted interest in scalability, policy uptake, and integration with field surveillance. The session reinforced the value of coordinated, innovative, and sustainable environmental surveillance for timely public health action. Click to watch the Webinar Full Recording on YouTube.
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