The East Africa Region Global Health Security Summit 2025 brought together top health experts, policymakers and industry leaders to strategize on health security for the East Africa region. Held in the port city of Mombasa, Kenya, from January 28-30, the summit focused on building a new regional approach to prepare for future pandemics and health emergencies.
The event was co-convened by the UNMC Global Center for Health Security, the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention Eastern Africa Regional Coordinating Centre, the Kenya Vision 2030 Delivery Board, Amref International University and the Jumuiya Economic Development Secretariat. Together, these institutions aimed to strengthen global health security by improving pandemic readiness in the 14-country East Africa region — a strategic hotspot for emerging infections.
Summit panels focused on a whole-of-community approach to pandemic readiness, new partnerships to strengthen underlying health systems and innovative systems to build sustainable health security from within the region. At the conclusion of the summit, the attendees endorsed a “Mombasa Communique” outlining specific actions to advance health security in East Africa. Among these were establishment of an African Center for Health Security, implementation of a pandemic preparedness fund for the region and promotion of training and education programs for future leaders in health security.
James Lawler, MD, associate director of international programs and innovation at UNMC’s Global Center for Health Security, emphasized the summit’s role in fostering “sustainable health system strengthening and emergency preparedness at the local level.”
High-profile attendees included delegates from 10 governments, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and various academic and private-sector stakeholders. “Former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s keynote address on day two drew international media attention, including coverage by CNN,” Dr. Lawler said.
UNMC played a pivotal role, with a delegation of experts contributing to panel discussions and technology exhibitions. Among them were:
- H. Dele Davies, MD, UNMC interim chancellor – convener and plenary speaker
- John Lowe, PhD, assistant vice chancellor and UNMC Global Center for Health Security director – panel chair
- James Lawler, MD, UNMC Global Center for Health Security associate director – speaker and panelist
- Nada Fadul, MD, assistant dean, UNMC College of Medicine – panel chair
- Katherine Willet, MD, UNMC Global Center for Health Security scholar, and Tori Wadman, MD, health security clinical fellow – participants
- Vicky Nakibuuka, Lisa Willard, Mark Vazquez – program and technical support
In addition to a plenary speech, Dr. Davies introduced the fourth president of Kenya, H.E. Uhuru Kenyatta, who led Kenya through the first two years of COVID-19. H.E. Kenyatta was provided a demonstration of UNMC’s cutting-edge ISTARI patient isolation care system, which was showcased during the summit and generated strong interest as a cost-effective solution for containing infectious diseases in resource-limited settings.
Dr. Lowe highlighted the importance of equitable access to health services by noting the areas and populations with gaps in access to health services tend to be those most frequently and significantly impacted by health emergencies. “They are the weak spots in the line of defense against emerging infectious diseases and pandemic threats. Improving access to health services can reduce or prevent health emergencies and provide a greater foundation for emergency response,” he said.
Dr. Davies said UNMC is recognized as a world leader in global health security, saying, “Our presence and technical support was viewed very positively.”
Dr. Lawler added: “With our unique set of technical knowledge and skills in biopreparedness, outbreak response, isolation care for high-consequence infections, research and training, UNMC can be an instrumental partner in enhancing outbreak response, addressing technical challenges in biopreparedness and building the health security workforce for the future.”
UNMC’s involvement reinforced its commitment to expanding partnerships, advancing pandemic response capabilities and fostering a global network of institutions dedicated to health security.
“By building and strengthening partnerships with East African collaborators, UNMC furthers its technical expertise in emerging infectious diseases and pandemic threats as well as enhancing the scope of its surveillance and response capacity to anticipate, detect and defuse evolving health emergencies that threaten the United States,” Dr. Lawler said. “By strengthening the global network of institutions, we combat some of the greatest threats to humanity.”