Genomic Detection for Infectious Disease Elimination

Programme Partner: Duke-NUS Medical School

Region: Asia

While COVID has led to 7 million global deaths, more common infectious diseases contribute almost double that number on an annual basis. Conditions such as tuberculosis, drug-resistant bacteria, respiratory viruses, and dengue are neglected silent killers. Many of these deaths are preventable through enhanced detection and control efforts. Recent advances in genomic sequencing, deployed at-scale during COVID, have transformed early disease detection. Genomics is also a critical driver of new tool development including diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines. Scaling innovations in genomics can save lives, particularly in high-risk low-resource settings, through improved control and elimination of a wide range of infectious diseases.

The Asia Pathogen Genomics Initiative (Asia PGI) was established in 2021 to leverage scientific and technical partnerships in Singapore and across Asia with the aim of accelerating the application of genomic sequencing across 14 low-resource countries. During 2022-2023, Asia PGI facilitated a national assessment of current capacities, priorities and gaps. Findings show that while all countries have newly established capacity for conducting genomics for infectious disease control, levels of infrastructure and capacity remain too slow to support rapid action.

Asia PGI’s efforts will now focus on strengthening in-country genomics capacity with the aim of detecting priority infections within their 1st week of presenting to health systems. Workstreams include

• Partnerships: To optimise coordination between national, regional and global partners to accelerate shared learning;
• Capacity development: To equip countries with technical skills in laboratory, bioinformatics and data-for-decision;
• Enabling environment: To support national planning, cost-efficient system-design, and respond to emerging supply chain, regulatory and legal challenges; and
• Monitoring & Research: To track progress, foster innovation and respond to emerging priorities.