Dr. Amadou Sall – Fighting to Help All of Africa Find and Treat COVID-19

One of Fortune magazine’s 25 greatest “Heroes of the Pandemic,” Senegalese virologist Dr. Amadou Sall has put the power of the Institut Pasteur de Dakar behind expanding COVID-19 testing in Africa. He and his team at the renowned biomedical research facility, where he serves as director, are currently developing a fast, cheap, at-home COVID-19 diagnostic test.

Needed: a quick, efficient, cost-effective test

For African countries in particular, a home COVID test could prove a game-changer, given the widespread lack of diagnostic equipment in medical settings across much of the continent. While richer Western countries are more able to purchase medical equipment and testing supplies in bulk and thus at a more advantageous rate, the open-market system currently in place forces lower-income nations, which typically only buy in small quantities, to pay higher prices. 

Until Dr. Sall and his team focused on the problem, the entire continent of 1.3 billion people had only two labs—one of them his own Institut Pasteur—able to conduct COVID-19 testing. The 10-minute, $1 point-of-service antigen-detection tests that Dr. Sall and his team are developing, in partnership with the British diagnostic firm Mologic, could revolutionize pandemic healthcare throughout Africa.

Partnering to find a solution

Mologic, whose co-founder produced the first at-home pregnancy test, has worked with the Institut Pasteur over the course of the pandemic to develop a COVID-19 antigen saliva swab test to detect whether a person is currently infected. The company has also sought to create a finger-stick antibody test, which detects the immune system’s familiarity with the virus based on past exposure.

From start to finish, the tests require no laboratory equipment or even electricity, and can be administered and evaluated entirely at home. Prototype testing kits underwent scientific evaluation in June 2020, and by the end of 2020, the Institut Pasteur de Dakar and Mologic had together created six types of affordable COVID-19 test kits. 

Support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the government of the United Kingdom will allow the tests to be made available at cost.

In May 2020, Dr. Sall declared his goal of creating a test that could find rapid and efficient use throughout Africa. By November 2020, the Institut Pasteur de Dakar had noted another ambitious goal: to have issued 10 to 15 million of the kits by February 2021, initially through government-supported health organizations such as the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). 

In Africa, with its remote, scattered populations and less-well-equipped diagnostic laboratories, Dr. Sall has observed, a test like this one will be crucial to leveling the healthcare playing field during the pandemic. The affordability, ease of use, and early detection capabilities the kits afford could help Africa surmount its multiple pandemic-related logistical challenges.

In December 2020, Mologic announced that the COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test received CE Mark certification, a key regulatory approval from the European Union, after its success in independent scientific assessments. The test has also received an invitation for use in a rapid development and manufacture track under the supervision of the US National Institutes of Health.

Hard-earned knowledge

By the early days of the pandemic, Dr. Sall and his team at the Institut Pasteur de Dakar were already training medical laboratory personnel from a dozen nations in optimum COVID testing and detection techniques. Founded in 1923, this branch of the Paris-headquartered Institut Pasteur has almost a century of expertise in studying infectious diseases. It has been at the forefront of the fight against diseases like Zika and dengue fever, and has produced an effective yellow fever vaccine.

Dr. Sall’s PhD in public health and his status as one of the world’s leading experts on epidemic response and control gave his organization additional depth of insight and commitment. He studied medicine at Oxford University in the UK, as well as at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, and has worked as a virologist in labs in the United States. 

He has particular expertise in dealing with arboviruses (viruses transmitted by arthropods such as ticks and mosquitos) and with viral hemorrhagic fever diseases such as Ebola, Zika, and yellow fever. Now he and his team are focused on COVID. Sadly, his institute lost a staff member to the virus early in the pandemic.

Dr. Sall additionally serves as director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center for Arboviruses and Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers, chairman of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network, and member of the Global Virus Network’s multinational SARS-CoV-2 Task Force. He also previously served on the scientific advisory board of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation (CEPI). 

Supporting the Senegalese economy and public health

The tests are set to be produced in Senegal with local labor, giving the country an added boost through the creation of new jobs as it recovers from the economic consequences of the pandemic. 

Speaking to CNN in November 2020, Dr. Sall noted that, when people cannot work due to infection or illness, economic disruption follows. The investment in the new testing kits will give workers and organizations the information they need to better handle infections and outbreaks—and this, in turn, can keep the country running.

Senegal’s COVID-19 success story

Senegal can count itself among the countries that have dealt with the pandemic comparatively well. The nation of more than 16 million people has seen around 22,200 cases and 500 deaths, as of January 14, 2021. In contrast, the Netherlands, with a similar population of 17 million people, has had more than 895,000 cases and almost 12,800 deaths.

Besides the remarkable talents and efforts of people like Dr. Sall, Senegal may also have weathered the pandemic relatively well because of its previous experience with infectious disease outbreaks.

In 2014, for example, the Senegalese medical community marshalled all its knowledge and resources to face off against Ebola. They succeeded in limiting cases within its borders to just one person. This was an amazing feat: neighboring countries were less lucky, losing thousands of people to the virus. In some experts’ view, this victory over Ebola has given Senegalese infectious disease experts and authorities the ability to address COVID-19 more effectively.