When viral outbreaks struck in sub-Saharan Africa two decades ago, Dr. Dawit Wolday remembers having to ship pathogen samples overseas before any diagnoses could be confirmed.

“And then we would wait. Three weeks, one month, two months — just to get results,” Wolday, now an associate professor at McMaster University, recalled of his time leading a biotech lab in Ethiopia.

Today, after years of deadly epidemics, many African countries can identify outbreaks within a day or two.

But Wolday said the need to expand training, research, lab capacity and public health response remains urgent.

That’s among the focuses of a new memorandum of understanding between McMaster and the Sierra Leonean government, which paves the way for joint degrees, collaborative research, student and faculty exchan

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