The African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), in collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s South America Regional Office (CDC SAMRO) and Brazil’s Secretariat of Health and Environmental Surveillance (SVSA) through the General Coordination of Public Health Laboratories (CGLAB), successfully conducted the first South American Stepwise Laboratory Quality Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA) Auditor Training from September 9-13, 2024, in Belém, Pará, Brazil.
This inaugural training, with substantial contributions from renowned Brazilian institutions such as LACEN-Pará, Instituto Evandro Chagas, and FIOCRUZ, hosted participants from Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. These countries are now committed to leveraging SLIPTA to strengthen their central reference and national laboratory networks.
Dr. Alberto Simões Jorge Junior, General Director of LACEN/PA, emphasized that, “quality laboratory services are a critical component to the health and well-being of patients, and SLIPTA is the right tool for stepwise quality improvement in laboratories.”
Key attendees included André Luiz de Abreu (CGLAB/SVSA/MS), Marília Santini (CGLAB), Luciana Kohatsu (CDC SAMRO), Julia Kibunja (CDC
SAMRO), George Alemnji (U.S. Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy and PEPFAR), Raquel Aguilar (MOH Paraguay), and Viviana Molina and Beatriz Lopez from Argentina’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases (INEI) ANLIS “Carlos G. Malbran.”
Dr. Lívia Martins, Director of the Instituto Evandro Chagas/SVSA/MS, highlighted that SLIPTA would significantly reshape the accreditation landscape for laboratories in South America. Planning for Phase II of the SLIPTA Auditor Training is already underway.