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The inaugural session of UNEP’s Wastewater Surveillance for Africa webinar series, organized in collaboration with WHO, was held online on 03 July 2025. This new series is designed to build capacity and facilitate knowledge exchange on wastewater and environmental surveillance across Africa, showcasing key topics and practical case studies.

The kick-off event, “Introduction to Wastewater and Environmental Surveillance: Public Health and Ecosystem Protection”, explored how wastewater surveillance can provide early warning of disease outbreaks while supporting the protection of ecosystems across the continent.

Presentations were delivered by Dr. Kerrigan McCarthy (National Institute for Communicable Diseases, South Africa) on public health applications, and Innocent Makello (Environmental Management Agency, Uganda) on ecosystem protection through wastewater and environmental surveillance. Opening remarks and moderation were provided by experts from UNEP and WHO.

Watch the recording:

UNEP Global Wastewater Initiative:  The Global Wastewater Initiative (GWWI) is a multi-stakeholder partnership launched by UNEP in 2013. Its purpose is to address wastewater-related issues, prompt coordinated action and encourage new investments for sustainable wastewater management. The GWWI intends to bring about a paradigm shift in the way wastewater is seen, from waste to a resource, and prevent further pollution and degradation of our aquatic environment.

Join the partnership: click here to apply!

WHO: The World Health Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 6 regional offices and 150 field offices worldwide.

With financial support from:

EU DG HERA: The Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority’s (HERA) mission is to prevent, detect, and rapidly respond to health emergencies. HERA was launched as a new European Commission Directorate-General on 16 September 2021, and carries out the Commission’s policies related to health preparedness and crisis response and ensuring the resilience of healthcare systems across Europe. 

Please contact taru.miller@un.org and josephine.nduguti@un.org for more information. 

Did you know?
Only 12 per cent of cities have air quality measures that meet WHO standards.

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