Since our last newsletter there have been repeated calls in the scientific community to foster a trust relationship among scientists and the public to enhance data sharing in general and specifically in response to sharing of SARS-COV-2 data. Some of these debates have made their way to social media and have at times portrayed inaccurate information about global efforts aimed at supporting genomic epidemiology in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The need for accuracy in news media is heightened by the fact that inaccurate material becomes mainstream when left unchallenged. The PHA4GE consortium has certainly been at the center of the data sharing debate, and it is hoped that this newsletter provides additional information to shift the “data imperialism” perception among some folks to what PHA4GE stands for and that is a community that fosters an ecosystem to support international data standards, improved computing infrastructure, and accelerated human capital development that would assist Public Health interventions. Any suggestion to the contrary would derail a pan-African effort to strengthen our continent in the midst of a pandemic.
In this newsletter you will see updates on global projects aimed at strengthening the Public Health sector to utilize bioinformatics tools. And develop computing infrastructure that would improve turn-around response times for informing a public health response to disease outbreaks. You are encouraged to explore the Ethics and Data Sharing working group space. Our future newsletters will include a public awareness article on a current topic. This newsletter sheds light on “Vaccines”. We look forward to your continued engagement in an effort to strengthen public health laboratories in general, and particularly in resource-limited countries.
Alan Christoffels
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