Ethiopia Foodborne Disease Surveillance (PIONEER)
Background
Foodborne disease (FBD) is caused by the consumption of contaminated food or beverages. FBD is usually infectious or toxic in nature and caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites, or chemical substances entering the body through contaminated food. FBD can have significant health impacts, resulting in disability and death. Until recently in many Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), food safety has received little policy attention, and only modest investments have been made to manage food safety risks. This has been due to two main factors.
- There is weak empirical evidence for the country-level incidence of FBD, the economic costs of unsafe food, and the efficacy of food safety interventions.
- Institutional efforts to address food safety are fragmented across value chains and government ministries, and most LMIC countries lack effective consumer protection and advocacy organizations.
What is PIONEER Project
PIONEER aims to co-create a national, integrated FBD surveillance system in collaboration with key stakeholders utilizing state-of-the-art genomic methods for pathogen identification and chemical methods to provide timely and actionable data on FBDs to improve food safety and support evidence-based decision making.
Project objectives
Integrated Surveillance Design
Co-design and co-evolve an integrated national FBD surveillance system with key stakeholders and foster multisectoral collaboration to ensure sustainability
Sentinel Surveillance Implementation
To implement the methodologies, tools and protocols for establishing integrated sentinel FBD surveillance system at four HDSS sites
Disease Burden and Transmission Pathways
Determine incidence and spatiotemporal distribution of FBD, and identify sources and transmission pathways (food, animal, water and environment) affecting food safety
Burden Estimation and Risk Management
Apply WHO methodology (including disease models and attribution) to estimate the burden of microbiological and chemical FBD in Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) to support risk-based food safety management
What Makes PIONEER Innovative
Integrated Data Ecosystem
Integration of human, food, animal, water, climate, and environmental data
State-of-the-Art Detection
Use of state-of-the-art diagnostics for pathogen detection (multiplex PCR, metagenomics, whole-genome sequencing).
Chemical Hazard Surveillance
Inclusion of chemical hazards (aflatoxin, arsenic, lead, cadmium) using duplicate diet studies
Climate‑Linked Predictive Modeling
Linkage of climate data with foodborne disease trends in predictive models