KfW Development Bank Commits to Boost East Africa’s Laboratory Capacity
16/05/2025: Kampala.
The National Health Laboratory and Diagnostic Services (NHLDS) hosted a high-level delegation from Germany’s Development Bank, KfW and the East African Community (EAC) during a country visit.
The team was led by Hakim Idris from EAC and Amanda Bouig from KfW. During the visit, KfW officially committed to strengthen the laboratory and diagnostic capacity for eight member states of East African Community. This support will be channelled through the EAC under the One Health Network.
“Part of this support will go towards transforming UVRI as a center of excellence for virology in the region, while the rest will cover one health laboratories, maintaining molecular laboratory capacities in East Africa as well as integration of Democratic Republic of Congo,” Hakim Idris from EAC announced.
He adds that the Bank has committed the continuation of phase one covering eight member states as well as the integration of Somalia.
“We welcome this funding as it helps us bridge the gaps in outbreak preparedness. We appeal that a portion of the funds are channelled to the member states to support emergency operations during deployment rather than having to undergo requests through EAC,” Dr. Susan Nabadda appealed.
KfW has been a long-standing partner in enhancing Uganda’s capacity to detect and respond to disease outbreaks. In 2019, KfW supported NHLDS to deploy Uganda’s first GeneXpert-based mobile laboratory, enabling rapid field testing during the Ebola Zaire threat.
This was followed in 2020 by the EAC-Germany partnership donating two state-of-the-art modular mobile laboratories to Uganda. These mobile labs are capable of detecting BSL-3 and BSL-4 pathogens, such as Ebola and Marburg viruses, and strengthened Uganda’s surveillance and emergency response. These were also instrumental during COVID -19 outbreak.
“During the COVID -19 outbreak, these mobile labs were deployed at Tororo – border with Kenya (110,000 tests), another at Adjumani – border with South Sudan (90,000 tests) and at Entebbe – International Airport and achieved a Turnaround time of six hours on average which helped decongest border posts and enabled trade to continue,” Said Tonny Muyigi, a Lab Technician at NHLDS.
This is expected to support upgrade of existing lab equipment, capacity building, and expand diagnostic networks.
