OCTOPUS – One Collaborative Training Program for Outbreak Preparedness and Universal Surveillance
OCTOPUS is a Global Health EDCTP3-funded initiative under Horizon Europe, bringing together academic institutions and public health organisations across six Sub-Saharan African countries—Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda—with the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) as its European academic partner. The consortium aims to strengthen epidemiological, biostatistical and infectious disease modelling capacity to improve disease surveillance, outbreak preparedness and evidence-informed public health decision-making.
Over 48 months, OCTOPUS will develop a cohort of highly skilled public health professionals, comprising 45 Master's degree fellows and 35 non-degree trainees, including Trainer-of-Trainers candidates. The programme combines competency-based, hybrid academic training in epidemiology, biostatistics and infectious disease modelling with mentorship, faculty exchange and practical field research attachments within Ministries of Health and National Public Health Institutes.
Through applied research, advanced statistical and AI-driven analytics, open-access data resources, dashboards, research publications and a decentralised expertise dissemination model, the project aims to extend training and knowledge transfer to at least 4,500 additional public health professionals across Sub-Saharan Africa. By strengthening collaboration between universities, public health institutions and Ministries of Health, OCTOPUS seeks to establish sustainable regional expertise, improve the use of health data for policy and practice, and enhance Africa's capacity to anticipate, detect and respond to infectious disease threats.
TRIPLE-SYNBIO – Triple-Duty Indigenous Synbiotics
TRIPLE-SYNBIO is a Danida-funded research initiative bringing together multidisciplinary partners from Denmark, Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria to develop innovative, locally adapted synbiotic foods from indigenous African fermented foods. The project aims to discover and characterise beneficial microorganisms (probiotics) and combine selected strains with novel prebiotics to develop multifunctional foods that address three interconnected health and nutrition challenges: diarrhoeal diseases and gut infections, micronutrient deficiencies and malnutrition, and obesity-related metabolic disorders.
Through in silico, in vitro and in vivo studies, the project will investigate the potential of these synbiotics to improve gut health, enhance vitamin and mineral bioavailability, reduce antinutritional compounds, and inhibit diarrhoeal pathogens. It will also identify and characterise novel bacteriocins as potential natural antimicrobial agents to help address antimicrobial resistance (AMR), while developing affordable biosensor technologies for non-invasive micronutrient surveillance.
By 2031, TRIPLE-SYNBIO aims to deliver at least five validated synbiotic food prototypes, novel bacteriocins, improved fermentation and biofortification processes, microbial repositories in Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria, and open-access multi-omics resources. Through clinical and nutritional studies, community engagement, SME partnerships and research capacity strengthening, the project seeks to translate African microbial biodiversity and traditional food knowledge into sustainable food innovations that improve maternal and child health, strengthen food and nutrition security, and contribute to combating AMR.
Patrick Muriga Kamau Njage’s presentation
