The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) is a national public health resource for South Africa. The institute supports the National and Provincial Departments of Health by providing reference microbiology and virology expertise as well as specialised epidemiology, surveillance and research assistance in response to potential communicable disease public health threats across the continent. With a fully operational BSL4 laboratory facility on-site, the NICD continues to play a pivotal role in the diagnosis of and research into highly contagious viral haemorrhagic fevers such as Ebola and Marburg virus.

Given the NICD’s capacity in terms of infrastructure and expertise the institution acts as a collaborating and reference facility for a number of the World Health Organization’s global disease programmes. In addition, the NICD has co-operative agreements with other national and regional public health entities including the USA’s Centers for Disease Control and Preventions, the United Kingdom’s Health Protection Agency and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. These agreements facilitate collaborative research as well as the exchange of ideas and expertise.  The NICD is also committed to building scientific and epidemiological capacity in Africa.