The National Institute for Communicable Diseases is a national public health institute of South Africa, providing reference microbiology, virology, epidemiology, surveillance and public health research to support the government’s response to communicable disease threats. The NICD serves as a resource of knowledge and expertise of communicable diseases to the South African Government, Southern African Development Community countries and the African continent. The institution assists in the planning of policies and programmes to support and respond to communicable diseases.