Several regional meetings by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), Southern African Development Community (SADC), the African Union (AU) and Foresight between 2005 and 2008, highlighted the need for an African equivalent of the USA’s Centres for Disease Control (CDC) which would operate as a virtual centre or network, developed through a cascade of national and regional virtual centres for infectious diseases.
In 2007, the African Union Commission for Science, Technology and Research (AU-STRC) developed a discussion document which advocated the realisation of an African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveillance (ACIDS) as a virtual centre based on:
  • African networks of institutions involved in infectious diseases of humans, animals and plants
  • International collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), FAO and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)
  • African smart partnerships with the United Kingdom (UK) and other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) science centres