The Agence de Medecine Preventive (AMP) has received a three-year grant of $4.9 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to create a consortium supporting cholera prevention and control in Africa.

AMP and the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) will be the core members of the consortium, which will include several other leading health organizations from around the world. The consortium will establish an African Cholera Surveillance Network (AFRICHOL) to strengthen cholera surveillance and outbreak response in at least eight African countries.

The new grant will help AMP greatly expand cholera surveillance by actively mobilizing regional and international organizations. A key partner will be AFENET, which will be responsible for overseeing project implementation in several countries.

"AMP will rely on its extensive global network to bring to the table the most important organizations working on cholera prevention in resource-poor settings," said Alfred da Silva, executive director of AMP. "It is only through such a collective effort that we will be able to establish the true burden of disease in sub-Saharan Africa."

The project will consist of several steps over three years. First, a consortium of international organizations will be established to provide technical and material support to the network. Second, participating countries will be identified based on objective criteria. Third, surveillance activities will be conducted over a period of two years. Finally, the last six months will be devoted to evaluating and interpreting data, as well as meeting with health ministers, WHO officials, and representatives of donor agencies to assess the most appropriate next steps.