Meningitis is a global public health concern, and a particular one in Chad. The country is in the African meningitis belt, an area where meningitis epidemics are fairly common. In 2024, the Centre Suisse de Recherches Scientifiques en Côte d'Ivoire (CSRS), with the support of the Meningitis Research Foundation (MRF) and the Wellcome Trust, carried out a study to assess Chad's genomic surveillance capabilities, identify existing gaps and propose recommendations to guide public health decisions.

“Genomic surveillance is the genetic analysis of the bacteria that cause meningitis. It is mentioned as a key pillar of the World Health Organization's (WHO) roadmap to defeat meningitis by 2030. The study we carried out is in line with this roadmap. Our aim was to define the capacities, strengths and weaknesses that will enable the implementation of genomic meningitis surveillance”, says Dr. Kanny Diallo, associate researcher at CSRS and principal investigator of the study on the situational analysis of the value chain for genomic meningitis surveillance in Tchad. 

The results of the study were presented at a restitution workshop held on April 24, 2025 in Ndjamena, the capital of Chad, in the presence of the Deputy Secretary General of the Chadian Ministry of Public Health and Prevention, Dr Mahamat Hamid Ahmat. He stressed the importance of the data collected as part of the study, and expressed his conviction that the work resulting from the feedback workshop would make a significant contribution to the fight against meningitis.

Some thirty people from Chadian health institutions, including laboratories, hospitals, research institutes and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) took part in the workshop. Divided into three focus groups (doctors, decision-makers and laboratory technicians), they examined the results of the study, and made observations and recommendations for improving the value chain (the stages from sample collection to analysis) for genomic surveillance in Chad.

Technical and material capacity-building

The results of the study and the discussions that followed their presentation point to a need for capacity-building in terms of both equipment and skills for healthcare professionals.

“Specific training in the sequencing of meningitis bacteria, as well as retraining for those involved at every stage of the chain, from sample collection to sequencing, is needed to optimize this genomic surveillance,” asserts Dr. Kanny Diallo.

For Dr Kadidia Gamougam, Focal Point for meningitis surveillance at the Chadian Ministry of Health. “The study highlights laboratories in Chad that have the capacity to carry out genomic analysis. If these laboratories have what it takes, they can do the work on site. This cuts down on time and enables very rapid decisions to be taken on meningitis surveillance. All this can contribute to achieving the goal of defeating meningitis in Chad by 2030.”

Another challenge, among many others, is “transporting samples from district hospitals to the national reference laboratory”, as Dr. Djimtebaye Djimtola, a medical officer in the Vaccine-Preventable Diseases Control and Epidemiological Surveillance Department, explains. 

Emmanuel Dabo/ASCA