ASLM Promotes Laboratory Capacity Building Through Collaborative Trainings

ASLM, in collaboration with its partners, continues to demonstrate its commitment to advancing the professional development of laboratory professionals and promoting capacity building within the workforce. As such, ASLM has recently participated in laboratory training activities with the goal of instructing and certifying laboratory professionals who can then, in turn, serve as trainers and laboratory auditors.

In February 2014, 30 laboratory professionals from five East African countries received training to obtain Strengthening Laboratory Quality Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA) auditor certification, during a five-day workshop held in Entebbe, Uganda. The preparation of new SLIPTA auditors will help ASLM and the East Africa Public Health Laboratory Networking Project (EAPHLNP) conduct more SLIPTA audits in the region in 2014. Such audits are essential to the advancement of high-quality diagnostic services. The SLIPTA workshop was conducted by ASLM and the World Bank-supported EAPHLNP with coordination aided by the inter-governmental health organisation the East, Central and Southern African Health Community (ECSA-HA).

Additionally, a two-week Strengthening Laboratory Management Trainings Towards Accreditation (SLMTA) Training of Trainers (TOT) workshop took place in March 2014 in Johannesburg, South Africa. In attendance were 21 laboratory professionals from 11 countries in Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean. The workshop was supported by the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the African Centre for Integrated Laboratory Training (ACILT).

Please visit the SLIPTA webpage to learn more about ASLM’s role in SLIPTA and SLMTA.

By: Michele Merkel, MS (Editorial Team)

Originally published in the May 2014 issue of Lab Culture newsletter.