GOHi is preparing to expand COVID-19 and other Severe Acute Respiratory Infections (SARI) surveillance capacity through increase in laboratory space and skilled manpower.

SARIs are acute respiratory illnesses that cause shortness of breath or difficulty in breathing and usually require hospitalization. SARIs cause an estimated 1.9 million deaths per year, 70% of which occur in developing countries.

GOHi will be working in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute.

To that goal, joint subcommittees are currently developing a two-five year work plan to implement a robust and sustainable project.

As part of this effort, GOHi team members from Ohio and Ethiopia are working with additional partners such as the Africa CDC to launch COVID-19 sero-surveillance project and with Chan Zuckerberg Biohub to expand genomic sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 strains.