The Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI) in Addis Abeba hosted the HoliCare academy for the first project workshop. Over the course of three days, the invited participants experienced blended learning and knowledge sharing through lectures and medical laboratory demonstrations.

The interactive exchanges between the participants from Ethiopia (AHRI) and participants from Institut Pasteur de Dakar from Senegal, Mbarara University of Science and Technology and Makerere University from Uganda are particularly noteworthy. The south-to-south knowledge exchange aspect is what makes the HoliCare project unique.

The workshop featured introductory lectures on molecular diagnostic tools such as quantitative PCR, Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), and microfluidics. Highlights included hands-on assembly of paper-based lateral flow assay (LFA) and their advantages for point-of-care testing in resource-limited settings. Participants also got hands-on experience working in the labs to carry out next generation sequencing for pathogen identification and characterization. During the COVID-19 pandemic AHRI was one of the few labs in Africa that did genome sequencing.