At a glance
CDC works with partners in Senegal to build sustainable public health capacity, strengthen laboratory systems and surveillance networks, deliver high-quality HIV diagnostic, treatment, and prevention services, and respond swiftly to disease outbreaks at their source, preventing health threats from reaching the U.S.
Strategic focus
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) began working in Senegal in 2001, supporting the HIV surveillance program. Since 2010, through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), CDC continues to support Senegal’s Ministry of Health and Social Action (MOHSA) to build a sustainable and reliable national HIV program. The program was built with a functioning HIV case reporting and surveillance system, strengthening the quality of routine prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV data, and on-site HIV rapid testing.
Senegal’s HIV epidemic is concentrated with an HIV prevalence of less than 1 percent in the general population but significantly increases (up to 20 percent) for people at higher risk for HIV. CDC provides technical assistance to Senegal’s MOHSA to build laboratory capacity and implement an effective lab quality management system. CDC’s efforts include external quality assurance, rapidly responding to challenges and gaps in HIV testing, and ensuring access to high-quality HIV diagnostics, including early infant diagnosis (EID) and viral load (VL) testing.
Read more about CDC's most recent key activities and accomplishments below.
Building public health capacity
- Developed, strengthened, and expanded a national electronic HIV case reporting and surveillance system that serves as the region’s first.
- Implemented sentinel surveillance surveys among pregnant women attending antenatal clinics based on routine PMTCT data.
- Transitioned country to routine PMTCT data use to address HIV surveillance needs.
Strengthening laboratory systems and networks
- Improved the quality of HIV rapid testing and data collection protocols in PMTCT sites for HIV surveillance.
- Trained laboratory staff and developed standardized procedures to support the lab accreditation process.
- Implemented an effective laboratory quality management system, including external quality assurance, to ensure access to high-quality HIV diagnostics, particularly for EID and VL testing.
- Installed AfriQua lab, an HIV-related proficiency testing program available to all African countries, to support laboratories involved in a quality management process and accreditation or certification.
- Supported international accreditation of the HIV reference laboratory, the first public health laboratory in West Africa to achieve international accreditation.
By the numbers
HIV
Estimated HIV Prevalence (Ages 15-49)
0.3% (2023)
Estimated HIV Deaths (Age≥15)
<1,000 (2023)
Reported Number Receiving Antiretroviral Therapy (Age≥15)
33,676 (2023)
TB
Estimated TB Incidence
110/100,000 population (2023)
Reported Percent of People with TB and HIV
3.9% (2023)
TB Treatment Success Rate
90% (2022)