The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) is a national public health institute for South Africa that provides disease surveillance, specialised diagnostic services, outbreak response, public health research, and capacity building to support the government’s response to communicable disease threats. The NICD supports public health responses, including policy advice and technical support to the National Department of Health (NDoH) and many other national and international stakeholders, including the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). The NICD comprises seven disease-focused centres with a range of specialist staff. The NICD maintained its accreditation status for the reporting period for three ISO/IEC standards: ISO/IEC 15189: 2022, ISO/IEC 17025, and ISO/IEC 9001.

The NICD Centres investigated various healthcare-associated outbreaks during the period under review, notably a large national outbreak of Wickerhamomyces anomalus (previously Candida pelliculosa) from a contaminated medical product widely used by healthcare facilities and the public.

The Centre for Emerging Zoonotic and Parasitic Diseases (CEZPD), which operates highly specialised laboratory facilities, including biosafety level 3 and level 4 facilities, entomology laboratories, and insectaries, including a mass-rearing facility, performed 91 tests for suspected rabies cases between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024.

The collective transversal functions of Division Biosafety and Biosecurity (DBB), Communication, Information Technology, Field Epidemiology, and Occupational Health Services have continued to demonstrate exceptional professionalism and expertise in supporting the NICD mission.

As part of managing the National Department of Health’s diagnostic and research permits, the DBB issued permits to transfer 41 182 samples between South Africa and 62 countries, 41 of which were to other African countries. The permit was used 767 times to import 26,014 samples, a twofold increase compared to the previous financial year. This increase bodes well for collaboration and knowledge sharing within the continent.