ECHO Sessions Summaries: October 2023 to April 2024

Between October 2023 and April 2024, the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), in collaboration with partners, convened 10 ECHO sessions through the LabCoP project. On average 297 unique connections were realised from 550 registrations per session. Participants typically spent an average of 40 (±22) minutes in the ~1-hour long sessions, and while predominantly from Africa, participants listened in from almost every continent in the world. Below is an overview of some key topics covered during this period. 

Viral Suppression and HIV Transmission: the Evidence, WHO Policy Brief and Results from Studies in Uganda

Following the release of the World Health Organization’s policy brief with guidance on the role of HIV viral suppression and the publication of a Lancet systematic review that credited undetectable levels of the virus with improved individual health and halting onward HIV transmission, LabCoP convened an Extended session in October 2023 to highlight key details and their implications for country-level programmes. There was deliberate emphasis on what the three categories of viral load levels mean for individual and public health interventions. Additionally, in February 2024, a session was convened on a related topic: low level viremia (LLV). Based on three studies conducted in Uganda to determine factors associated with LLV, perceptions of LLV among healthcare workers and clients and the effectiveness of intensive adherence counselling for achieving undetectable viral load among clients with LLV show the evidence is clear and clients with LLV need our attention!

Waste Management SubCoP

Through the LabCoP’s Waste Management Sub-Community of Practice, ASLM convened a session in December 2023 on sustainable waste management. Presenter Janita Hoffman from Medi-Clave in South Africa provided an overview of a holistic approach to a successful, sufficient and sustainable waste management system with a focus on autoclaving, bio-digestion and recycling. Having a comprehensive waste management system backed by competent policies, guidelines and staff with appropriately chosen technologies that are properly deployed and maintained is an obligation for every institution. Watch the waste management ECHO session here. 

Diagnostic Network Optimisation Sub-Community of Practice (DNO-SubCoP)

ASLM in collaboration with the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), through the Diagnostic Network Optimisation (DNO) Sub-Community of Practice (SubCoP) hosted two sessions focussed on integrated DNO implementation. The sessions highlighted experiences and lessons learned from Kenya during the session held in October 2023, which demonstrated that implementing an integrated DNO exercise is efficient on resources and still provides answers for individual disease programs and from Côte d`Ivoire during the session held in March 2024. 

Laboratory Professionals for the 21st Century: Building a Force Fit for Purpose

In a session held in February 2024, the presenter, Dr Suzanne Kiwanuka from Makerere University in Uganda, explored what the laboratory workforce of the 21st century should look like. Dr Kiwanuka highlighted the importance of expanding laboratorians’ training beyond just technical skills and having a workforce that is periodically evaluated and adequately compensated and that is kept up to date on One Health, technology advances, globalization and pandemics. Watch the session here. 

Global Priorities, Surveys and Country-Level Experiences

ASLM conducted four other sessions covering additional topics. An October 2023 session covered priorities and strategies for The Global Fund’s 2023-2028 funding cycle. In March 2024, presenters from Cepheid and the Clinton Health Access Initiative discussed advancing paediatric HIV care through the introduction of the Xpert HIV Qual XC test.  Also in March 2024, Malawi and partner Cooper / Smith presented their experience in improving turn-around times for results return through the deployment of electronic applications. The aim was to enhance clinical management & outcomes for people living with HIV by providing a digital, user-friendly application, backed by a sustainable, reliable architecture that facilitates results access at any time, from any location. Implementation was done in phases, from a feasibility study, application architecture design, piloting to Monitoring and evaluation. At the end of the pilot period, TAT for enrolled clients and facilities were reduced by about half, with no reported occurrence of unintentional disclosure of status.

Look out for exciting new ECHO sessions in the coming months.