Respondents accordingly argued that sustained investment was necessary in order to establish sustainable career paths, achieve a critical mass of scientific expertise and maintain the necessary research and development capacity, not just in major centres but also in local institutions. Genome sequencing platforms, for instance, were mentioned as prohibitively expensive for all but a handful of central institutions - a situation that was seen to militate against decentralised information sharing and collaboration between local public health agencies and actors. Respondents therefore called for a reduction in the price of molecular diagnostic technologies, and suggested that South Africa could benefit from improved relationships and perhaps collaboration with genomic apparatus manufacturers. Here too, fixed-term grant funding was seen as compounding the problem, since the lifespan of equipment often exceeds grant-funding periods.