Nouakchott (Mauritania), September 1, 2026 (SPS) – The Sahrawi Republic on Tuesday participated in a workshop for North Africa dedicated to public health emergency response.
The workshop, organized by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), will run until September 3 in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott.
The workshop will discuss a North African plan to accelerate efforts to strengthen, reinforce and harmonize the Regional Integrated Surveillance and Laboratory Network (RISLENT), identify the strengths and weaknesses of epidemiological surveillance across the region, enhance technical and logistical support for national laboratories, establish a framework for information sharing, identify priorities and build capacities.
The participation of the Sahrawi Republic in the North African regional workshop comes within the framework of the dynamic and close partnership between the Sahrawi Ministry of Public Health and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), as well as its partner international organizations, on a range of health-related issues, particularly surveillance, including the detection, reporting and early response to diseases and epidemics, notably indicator-based and event-based surveillance programs.
The workshop is also discussing ways to establish and strengthen National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs), which have become a necessity for many countries and serve as key institutions for studying and assessing matters related to human and animal health, particularly diseases and epidemics that continue to emerge in different forms.
Representing the Sahrawi Republic at the continental workshop are Mohamed Omar Salek, Secretary-General of the Ministry of Public Health; Alien Abdallah, Director of Cooperation at the Ministry of Public Health; Bashir Saleh, Head of the Central Studies and Research Department and in charge of the African Union portfolio at the Ministry of Public Health; and Ahmed Alien, an official at the Central Laboratory of the Shahid Bashir Saleh Health Complex.
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