Principal Secretaries of the East African region have committed to strengthen existing National Public Health Institutes (NPHIs) and National CDCs and support countries that have not established their own. They will also create a data sharing legal mechanism that will be used to share data for the region. The PSs have also agreed that Member States (MS) should identify specific areas which need support based on the Joint External Evaluation (JEE) recommendations and National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) . In a meeting organized for them by Africa Centre for Diseases Control (CDC) and Eastern Africa Region Member States in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, between August 8th and 9th 2018, the PSs also agreed that Africa CDC and WHO would hold joint planning meetings to support MS both in capacity building and emergency response. Kenya’s Health Principal Secretary Eng. Peter Tum led a delegation of Ministry of Health officials to the meeting. The objectives of the meeting were to identify priority areas of focus for public health interventions for the region, identify key areas of collaboration (short-term and long-term) between Africa CDC and Eastern Africa said region Member States and to implement strategies of Regional Integrated Surveillance and Laboratory Network (RISLNET) in Eastern Africa region. The meeting expected to, among others, review key public health priorities and activities, identify areas of mutual collaboration between the Africa CDC and Eastern Africa region member states and implement strategies for identified areas of mutual collaboration.