The African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have collaborated to support the capacity building of pathogen genomics in Africa. Together, they are supporting implementation of the quality management systems (QMS) in 11 public health pathogen genomics facilities through virtual awareness creation, training of laboratory personnel on QMS, and deployment of subject matter experts to provide onsite and virtual technical assistance/mentorship for the establishment and implementation of continuous quality improvement.
As part of this support, ASLM and Africa CDC are developing a QMS implementation framework for genome sequencing facilities. From 8 – 10 July, 2024 a consultative meeting was held in Nairobi, Kenya to begin the development of the QMS implementation framework for NGS facilities in Africa. The meeting included ASLM, Africa CDC staff and bioinformatics experts from the South African National Bioinformatics Institute (SANBI).
This framework is intended to provide proper QMS implementation guidance to the Ministry of Health, national public health institutes, national reference laboratories and medical research facilities in Africa.
At the end of the consultative meeting, Dr Sofonias Kifle, Program Lead for Genomics at Africa CDC, highlighted that this framework is highly anticipated by the member states, stakeholders and implementing partners to accelerate the implementation of QMS in the genomics facilities to bolster quality for pathogen genomic surveillance and epidemic response programs in Africa. Dr Juliana Ndasi, Portfolio Lead at ASLM, highlighted ASLMs outstanding track record in QMS implementation and development of high-level framework documents in related disciplines.