As the costs of generating molecular data at scale continue to tumble and the ability to produce such data locally grows, there is an ambition to build global systems to share these data across national boundaries. Traditionally, the technology to generate molecular data has been concentrated in research institutions in the global north, which has also been the location of the majority of the storage and analyses of these data. As these technologies become more widely used and begin to get implemented outside of a purely research setting, it is necessary to consider how their adoption can be sustainable and equitable for research partners across the globe, as well as the public for whom these approaches are ultimately serving. George will discuss his experience of working with institutions in Africa to build capacity for malaria genomics research and translation before opening up a more general discussion on the ethical and social issues that should be considered to maximise the potential of global pathogen molecular surveillance systems