Resource Centre

On 4 July, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted an Extended ECHO session about improving diagnostics for drug-resistant tuberculosis. Drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) remains a significant public health concern, given the increasing resistance to the effective foundation drugs, including Rifampicin and Isoniazid. In this session, we focus on utilizing Cepheid’s GeneXpert MTB/XDR, a WHO-endorsed, low complexity NAAT testing platform,… Read More

In this Antimicrobial Resistance Community of Practice (AMR CoP) webinar, we review the highlights of a groundbreaking study aimed at enhancing global antimicrobial resistance research capabilities, using interactive geographic information system (GIS) dashboards developed to enable comprehensive data analysis of AMR across multiple countries, providing crucial insights into antimicrobial usage (AMU), resistance patterns, and geographic… Read More

In this Antimicrobial (AMR) Community of Practice (CoP) webinar, we discuss integrating One Health into external quality assurance (EQA) PT programmes and key considerations. The session presentation is made by Dr Vashnee Govender, Lecturer, Veterinary Public Health, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, South Africa, and covers covers antimicrobial resistance (AMR) surveillance through the… Read More

On 20 June 2024, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted an Extended ECHO session that focused on the revised WHO-AFRO SLIPTA Checklist. The session presentation was made by Mr Teferi Mekonen and Dr Samba Diallo of ASLM and highlighted key changes to, and the transition roadmap for the WHO-AFRO SLIPTA checklist version 3. The session also covered some… Read More

The June 2024 LabCoP ECHO Session covered Malawi’s experience adopting the World Health Organization’s recommended 3-test algorithm. The WHO recommends using a standard HIV testing strategy, with three consecutive reactive tests to provide an HIV positive diagnosis. Adoption of this guidance is based on country-level selection and verification of potential kits to use, or the… Read More

On 13 June, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted an Extended ECHO session about Malawi and Zimbabwe experiences with lab mapping and final data use. ASLM, Africa CDC and partners have been supporting countries in a phased manner to map existing laboratory capacity on the continent. This initiative aims at collecting laboratory data linked to geolocation information for… Read More

ASLM’s LabCoP, in conjunction with Cepheid, convened a Waste Management Sub-CoP ECHO session focusing on GeneXpert cartridge waste management at viral load (VL) testing laboratories. GeneXpert is one of the test devices widely used in multi-disease testing, with substantial placement in most laboratory networks in Africa. The success of extensive placement of this test device… Read More

On 9 May 2024, ASLM’s LabCoP convened an Extended ECHO session on implementation experiences from early adopters of the World Health Organization Standard on Universal Access to Rapid Tuberculosis Diagnostics, released by WHO in 2023. The standard comprises 12 benchmarks in four steps of the diagnostic cascade, including: identifying presumptive TB cases, accessing testing, being… Read More

On 25 April 2024, ASLM’s LabCoP, in conjunction with Roche Diagnostics, convened a session focused on advancing patient care through integration and multi-diseases testing. Africa faces a high burden of infectious diseases, and this burden inevitably strains the health systems and compromises access to early and timely diagnostics, treatment and monitoring. Significant investments in establishing… Read More

This ASLM LabCoP Monitoring and Evaluation Sub-CoP ECHO session provided an overview of the structured assessments, interpretation and use of assessment results on systems supporting viral load (VL) testing, structure and function of laboratory networks, integration readiness assessment and mapping of the laboratory network. Additionally, the team shared an overview of the ASLM-developed country-specific dashboards… Read More

The Laboratory System’s Strengthening Community of Practice (LabCoP) 7th Annual Meeting report presents key summaries, proposed actions and recommendations from the 2023 annual meeting. Held in Cape Town, South Africa on 11 December 2023, on the sidelines of the ASLM2023 conference, the meeting brought together 22 country teams, funding agencies, ASLM collaborating partners and the… Read More

On 11 April 2024, ASLM’s LabCoP convened an Extended ECHO session focussing on surveillance of histidine-rich protein genes deletion in plasmodium falciparum (pfhrp2/3). Globally, malaria remains a pressing health concern, with an estimated 249 million cases and 608,000 deaths reported in 2022 alone. Africa bears a disproportionately high malaria burden, emphasising the critical need for… Read More

On 28 March 2024, ASLM’s LabCoP convened an Extended ECHO session focusing on a pilot in Malawi of electronic return of results. Viral load (VL) test results serve as the gold standard for monitoring antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence and treatment response. However, countries encounter delays to deliver VL results from testing laboratories to end users… Read More

On 21 Mar 2024, ASLM, in collaboration with FIND, convened a LabCoP DNO Sub-CoP session focusing on Cote d Ivoire’s experience in the implementing diagnostic network optimization (DNO). The session examined how a pilot DNO exercise was designed, highlighting key findings and recommendations to improve access to diagnostic services for HIV, tuberculosis, and human papilloma… Read More

The March LabCoP ECHO Session focused on transforming pediatric HIV care through ensuring equitable access with the introduction of Xpert HIV-1 Qual XC. Early initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in HIV infected infants improves overall care outcomes, yet coverage of critical interventions including access to timely diagnostic services in this population remains low. There is… Read More

The February LabCoP ECHO Session focused on low-level viremia during anti-retroviral therapy. Progress in research on HIV/AIDS, the implementation of interventions to support prevention, case identification and availing lifesaving antiretroviral treatment (ART) have been generally successful. Despite these strides, up to 39 Million people globally were living with HIV and about 630,000 died from AIDS-related… Read More

The Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health, launched at the 69th World Health Assembly in 2016, aims at having universal availability, accessibility, acceptability, coverage and quality of health workforce that supports effective health service delivery. In this session, we examine what the laboratory workforce of the 21st century should look like, including having more… Read More

LabCoP’s Waste Management ECHO session, held on 7 Dec 2023, focused on sustainable healthcare waste management. Having a comprehensive waste management system backed by competent policies/guidelines, competent staff, appropriate technologies chosen, deployed, and properly maintained is an obligation of every institution. Janita Hoffman, the Medical Sales Representative for Medi-Clave (Pty) Ltd, South Africa, presented an… Read More

The SLIPTA Checklist V3, published by the World Health Organization (WHO), specifies requirements for quality and competency, aimed to develop and improve medical laboratory services to raise laboratory quality to established national and/or international standards. The elements of this checklist are based on ISO standard 15189:2022 (E) and, to a lesser extent, the Clinical &… Read More

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health challenge and a leading cause of death by an infectious disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) has set targets to reduce TB deaths by 90% and to cut new TB cases by 80% between 2015 and 2030 as part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Despite advances in… Read More

In April 2023, ASLM’s Laboratory Directors Forum convened a high-level meeting on diagnostic integration and laboratory systems strengthening in Nairobi, Kenya. The meeting brought together 97 attendees, including 53 in-person and 44 virtual participants, consisting of laboratory directors, HIV and tuberculosis (TB) programme managers from 15 countries, global health experts, funders, and collaborating partners. This… Read More

The October 2023 LabCoP Diagnostic Network Optimization (DNO) Sub-CoP EHO Session was help in conjunction with the Kenya Ministry of Health and partners on integrated DNO. The session provided an overview of the integrated DNO conducted in Kenya to improve access to testing for tuberculosis (TB), HIV and human papillomavirus (HPV). Presentations were made by… Read More

On 19 October 2023, ASLM’s LabCoP convened an Extended ECHO session focussing on the Global Fund Strategy 2023-2028, and the priorities and updates for Grant Cycle 7. In the session, Juliet Bryant, Medical Laboratory Specialist at the Global Fund, shares information about key laboratory systems strengthening investment support, updates and perspectives for GC7. Please follow… Read More

Description: On 12 October 2023, ASLM’s LabCoP convened an Extended ECHO session focusing on the World Health Organization’s recently released guidance on the role of HIV viral suppression, and the Lancet systematic review that credits undetectable levels of the virus for both improving individual health and halting onward HIV transmission. The session presentation was made… Read More

The August LabCoP ECHO session, was jointly organized by ASLM and Global Laboratory Initiative (GLI), one of the 7 working groups of the Stop TB Partnership. This session was convened to review the World Health Organization’s Standard on Universal Access to Rapid Tuberculosis Diagnostics. The WHO End TB Strategy calls for all notified TB cases… Read More

This World Health Organization policy brief explains the rationale behind the thresholds of HIV viral load suppression and provides additional information regarding implementation considerations. The ultimate goal of antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV is attainment of undetectable viremia. This is for their own health and to prevent onward transmission to their sexual partner(s)… Read More

The July 2023 LabCoP ECHO session, jointly organized by ASLM and Cepheid, focused on point-of-care (POC) HIV viral load (VL) at delivery to facilitate early infant diagnosis (EID) and maternal adherence in Uganda. In this session, we discuss results of a randomized trial focussing on the use of POC testing for EID and VL to… Read More

LabCoP’s Waste Management session, held on 6 July 2023, in collaboration with Africa CDC and the UK Health Security Agency, focused on detection and surveillance of chemical hazards. This is the second of two sessions dedicated to chemical waste management. Lydia Izon, the Principal Public Health Scientist with Chemicals and Poisons Team, Radiation, Chemicals and… Read More

This policy paper, published by the Center for Global Development, qualitatively establishes the complex costs and benefits of strengthening laboratory capacity and systems within and across national borders. Costs are presented as direct and indirect, while benefits are presented at the individual, population, and health-system levels. Each cost and benefit grouping is further divided into… Read More

LabCoP’s Waste Management ECHO session, held on 6 June 2023, focused on general principles of chemical hazards and public health. Laboratory testing and other healthcare procedures involve the use of chemicals that have the potential to cause harm. Knowledge of required precautions or mitigation measures in the event of exposures are key in ensuring safe… Read More

On Thursday, 8 June 2023, African Society for Laboratory Medicine convened a session to walk through the historic WHA resolution on Strengthening diagnostics capacity. This resolution, the first of its kind, that addresses diagnostics was initiated by the Kingdom of Eswatini, and co-sponsored by all WHO AFRO region member states, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Germany, France and… Read More

The June 2023 LabCoP ECHO session focused on using key performance indicators (KPIs) to drive laboratory network performance management. Just like any product or service industry, effective, efficient and reliable national laboratory network management relies on a deliberate and structured efforts to continuously look for critical areas that can aid or diminish performance and continuously… Read More

Through its Africa Task Force for Novel Coronavirus (AFTCOR) Laboratory Technical Working Group, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has developed guidance on ‘Building Testing Capacity for Epidemic-Prone Diseases’. The aim of this guidance is to enhance the surveillance and diagnostic capacity of African Union (AU) member states. The guidance provides… Read More

The May 2023 LabCoP ECHO session jointly organised by  the African Society for Laboratory Medicine and the Global Laboratory Initiative (GLI) featured the Tuberculosis Diagnostic Network Assessment (TB-DNA) tool. TB-DNA is a country-driven process that assesses the functionality of the national tuberculosis (TB) diagnostic network and system to determine its capacity to meet the country’s… Read More

Safe disposal of laboratory waste is a critical component of good laboratory practice. Molecular diagnostic test services, including HIV viral load (VL) and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) testing, have the potential to generate guanidinium thiocyanate (GTC), a potentially toxic compound, which requires specialised treatment and disposal. There are growing waste management challenges in many laboratories… Read More

This WHO publication sets benchmarks to achieve universal access to WHO-recommended rapid diagnostics (WRDs), increase bacteriologically confirmed tuberculosis and drug resistance detection, and reduce the time to diagnosis. WHO-recommended rapid diagnostics are highly accurate, cost-effective, reduce the time to treatment initiation, and impact patient-important outcomes. The WHO Standard comprises twelve benchmarks to be computed by… Read More

On 4 May, ASLM’s LabCoP, in collaboration with EDCTP and TB-CAPT, convened an Extended ECHO session that focused on exploring advancements in the lipoarabinomannan (LAM) diagnostic development pipeline, approaches for clinical adoption in field settings, and strategies for quality assessment. The information in this session helps address the urgent need for TB tools and diagnostic… Read More

This LabCoP Diagnostic Network Optimisation (DNO) Sub-CoP ECHO session in co-convened with the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), focuses on providing an overview of the DNO analysis in Zambia for TB/HIV testing integration, including objectives, methodology and key findings. It further explores how findings from the diagnostic network optimization analysis informed Zambia Ministry of… Read More

The March 2023 LabCoP ECHO session organised by ASLM and the Global Laboratory Initiative (GLI) focused on the GLI Planning and Budgeting Tool for tuberculosis and drug resistant TB testing, and the Stop TB Partnership Global Drug Facility (GDF) diagnostics product catalogue. These planning and budgeting tools are semi-automated, editable, Excel-based calculation tools for estimating… Read More

A second February 2023 LabCoP Monthly ECHO session is one of a two-part series dedicated to the new WHO recommended HIV test algorithm. In this first session, we focus on transitioning to a three-assay HIV testing strategy that requires three consecutive reactive tests to provide an HIV positive diagnosis and limit the risk of misdiagnosis… Read More

On 16 Feb 2023, ASLM’s LabCoP convened an Extended session about an ultra-sensitive rapid diagnostic test for malaria; a potential solution for accelerating malaria elimination and its role in surveillance. Presentations were made by Luis Gonzalez, Global Director, Medical and Scientific Affairs; Xavier Ding, Clinical Strategy Manager, Infectious Disease Emerging Markets; and Carlos Cardenas, Global… Read More

The February 2023 LabCoP ECHO session is part 2 of The Revised ISO15189:2022 Standard series. It takes a deep dive into changes needed at country and facilities levels to align to and meet the requirements of the revised standard. The focus is on how to systematically handle the transition for both accredited and non-accredited laboratories…. Read More

The Waste Management ECHO session held on 2 February 2023 launched the second phase of LabCoP’s Waste Management Sub-Community of Practice. This new phase focusses on building from awareness creation to action, rallying all stakeholders in identifying concrete ways to improve and increase adoption and implementation of safer, practical, and sustainable methods/technologies for the disposal… Read More

This LabCoP ECHO session is the first in a four-part series dedicated to the revised ISO 15189:2022 version. In this session, we reintroduce key concepts of laboratory quality management systems (QMS) and cover some of the changes in the revised ISO 15189:2022, compared to the withdrawn ISO 15189:2012 version. In this session hosted by Beatrice… Read More

The Laboratory System’s Strengthening Community of Practice (LabCoP) 6th Annual Meeting report presents key summaries, proposed actions and recommendations from the 2022 annual meeting. Held in Cape Town, South Africa from 11-13 October 2022, this hybrid in-person and virtual meeting brought together 19 country teams, funding agencies, ASLM collaborating partners and the LabCoP Management Team…. Read More

LabCoP’s first Diagnostic Network Optimisation Sub-Community of Practice (DNO Sub-CoP) ECHO session was held in September 2022. The DNO Sub-CoP is a collaboration between ASLM and FIND, that aims to improve the uptake and quality of DNO processes in LabCoP-participating countries. This joint session was moderated by Dr Marguerite Massinga Loembe, Senior Laboratory Adviser and… Read More

LabCoP’s Aug ECHO session focussed on measuring the progress and value of integrated sample transport systems for clinical and public health benefits. Access to health care, including diagnostic services, is one of the dimensions of quality. With regard to diagnostics, services are staggered through the healthcare system network with simple procedures at lower facilities, and… Read More

In LabCoP’s September ECHO session, ASLM and partners discussed optimising the TB/HIV diagnostic cascade through the implementation of the Clinic-Laboratory Interface Continuous Quality Improvement (CLICQ!) program. Optimal cascade performance requires that clinical and laboratory teams’ interface to ensure service continuity from identification of presumptive cases, specimen collection, transport and diagnostic testing, all the way through… Read More

The study collected information from African countries about existing national guidance documents and the current process of decision making when selecting tier-specific in-vitro diagnostics (IVD). The lessons learnt represent useful insights on what works and what does not, that could be the basis for recommendations to supporting countries and stakeholders in developing and implementing a… Read More

This AMR CoP ECHO session explores surgical site infections and related antibiotic resistance profiles occurring after Bellwether procedures in rural Liberia. In this session, we explore the Liberian experience on antibiotic resistance profiles from surgical site infections that occur after surgery, the main causes of healthcare-related infections in low- and middle-income countries, and their impact… Read More

LabCoP’s December 2022 ECHO session shares practical insights on integrated testing for HBV and Xpert HCV to align with the World Health Organization’s goal for the triple elimination of HIV, HBV and syphilis. Using a case from Nigeria, we discuss implementation experiences at the point-of-care sites, the existing tuberculosis (TB) and HIV testing infrastructure and… Read More

This LabCoP Diagnostic Network Optimisation (DNO) Sub-CoP ECHO session focuses on promoting data-driven investments for effective laboratory network optimisation. In this session, the Global Fund, provides an overview of the GF funding cycle, priorities for involvement of Lab Directorates in preparing funding request, funding for diagnostic network optimization and how to plan the DNO lifecycle… Read More

On 17 November 2022, ASLM convened this special ECHO session on critical enablers and barriers for local manufacturing of diagnostics among African member states. The continent is heavily reliant on imported diagnostics, and in times of crisis, the continent is at greater risk, as supply chains tend to satisfy local needs first. True and equitable… Read More

In this Antimicrobial (AMR) Community of Practice (CoP) webinar, we learn about how Tanzania has managed to implement an AMR surveillance system based on the WHONET software and implementing the WHO Point Prevalence Survey on Antibiotic Use in Hospitals, as part of their National Action Plan on AMR implementation. We also discuss how this surveillance… Read More

This policy brief summarises the results of the Mapping Antimicrobial Resistance and Antimicrobial Use Partnership (MAAP) project, and the analysis and interpretation of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and antimicrobial consumption (AMC) data collected from 2016 to 2019 from 14 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. The policy brief highlights the gaps and opportunities of the national AMR laboratory… Read More

In this Antimicrobial (AMR) Community of Practice (CoP) webinar, we discuss the worrying pattern of AMR observed in children under-5 years in one region in Ghana and its implication on AMR National Action Plan (NAP) implementation. We also explore strategies adopted by Uganda to support AMR surveillance and the role of country Antimicrobial Resistance Coordinating… Read More

In this Antimicrobial (AMR) Community of Practice webinar, we explore how integrated AMR interventions have been applied in a One Health approach to improve surveillance. We discuss a One Health approach to containing AMR and the key role governments play in the global effort. We further share the country-specific context of how Kenya’s government contribution… Read More

On 7 July 2022, ASLM’s LabCoP convened a session about the power of human papiloma virus (HPV) DNA testing in transforming cervical cancer screening in Africa: In this session, In this session, we highlight the value of screening with the HPV DNA test, and its clinical performance. We also share the Zambia country experience of… Read More

On 14 July 2022, ASLM’s LabCoP convened a webinar about the Rapid Test Continuous Quality Improvement (RT-CQI) initiative developed by PEPFAR and the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. In partnership with other stakeholders, it supports the strengthening of capacity and ongoing assessment of facility and individual tester competency in performing rapid tests. Given… Read More

In this Antimicrobial (AMR) Community of Practice (CoP) webinar, we discuss the One Health approach to addressing antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This approach provides significant opportunities to explore broadly-existing microbial relationships between humans and animals. In this session, from the genomic point of view, the Institut Pasteur de Dakar (IPD), Senegal presents unique perspectives of AMR… Read More

On 23 June 2022, this Extended ECHO session was convened to discuss best practices and the potential of lay health workers in supporting health services delivery, especially diagnostics at decentralised health facilities, the first point of contact for patients seeking healthcare support. In this discussion, Mr Zibusiso Ndlovu, Epidemiologist and Laboratory Advisor, Medecins Sans Frontieres… Read More

This Guidance for Establishing a National Laboratory Quality Framework (NLQF), developed by Africa CDC and ASLM, has been prepared to guide and facilitate country-level efforts of strengthening national laboratory systems and networks. This document serves as a practical guide for countries during the development or updating of their national laboratory quality policies and strategic plans… Read More

On 7 June 2022, this special ECHO session was held to focus on the Monkeypox virus outbreak. In this session, led by Dr Jacqueline Weyer, Principal Medical Scientist, Centre for Emerging Zoonotic and Parasitic Diseases, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, National Health Laboratory Service, South Africa; and Dr Placide Mbala, Head of the Epidemiology Department… Read More

In this In this Antimicrobial (AMR) Community of Practice (CoP) webinar, we share the experience of Kenya in the development of a national quality manual and strategic plan for the animal health sector, supporting the establishment on a national quality infrastructure that supports and mandates quality management systems (QMS) implementation and external quality assurance (EQA)… Read More

LabCoP’s June 2022 session featured the Zimbabwe experience implementing electronic result reporting, using the SMS platform, and the impact it is having on the timely utilization of laboratory results and general HIV clients management. Laboratory results are used in the diagnosis and monitoring of treatment response among individuals with acute and chronic conditions/diseases. It is… Read More

On 31 May 2022, ASLM, in collaboration with the Stop TB Partnership Global Laboratory Initiative (GLI), EDCTP, and TB-CAPT project, convened a session on guidance in selecting patient-cantered, setting-specific solutions for tuberculosis (TB) detection. This new WHO/ Global Laboratory Initiative manual recommends that all patients with presumptive TB receive an initial, molecular WHO-recommended diagnostic (mWRD)… Read More

In this AMR CoP session, we discuss laboratory workforce development challenges. In many countries in Africa, the numbers and skills of professionals capable of generating quality antimicrobial susceptibility test (AST) laboratory results, interpreting antimicrobial resistance (AMR) data or designing relevant and representative AMR surveillance protocols required for solid AMR surveillance systems are scarce. In addition,… Read More

In 2015, under ASLM’s leadership, some Diagnostic Access Initiatives (DAI) partners including, SCMS, CHAI, MSF, and USAID jointly developed a comprehensive viral load (VL) costing model that incorporates CD4 testing, which helps estimate testing need, commodity and systems costs. This is a vital aid, because, in order to define scale-up plans, determine funding gaps and… Read More

On 14 April 2022 ASLM’s LabCoP convened an Extended ECHO session about addressing diagnostic gaps in the tuberculosis (TB) care cascade, which featured discussion about the MTB/XDR assays and considerations for their implementation. Presentations were made by Dr. Kogieleum Naidoo, Head of the HIV and Tuberculosis Treatment Program at the Centre for AIDS Program of… Read More

On 7 April, ASLM’s LabCoP convened an Extended ECHO session about the role of diagnostic network optimization to achieve 95-90-0 for mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) disease elimination while scaling up testing. This webinar provided perspectives from Roche Diagnostics on the role of network optimisation to achieve 95-90-0 for MTB disease elimination; the deployment of some of… Read More

On 31 March 2022, ASLM’s LabCoP convened an ECHO session on supporting the implementation of diagnostics and laboratory systems investments for COVID-19 in the African region. With funding from The Global Fund and through their Stellar Project, and in collaboration with Africa CDC, ASLM, Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), and Clinton Health Access Initiative… Read More

In this Antimicrobial (AMR) Community of Practice (CoP) webinar, we discuss our approach to establishing regional external quality assessment (EQA) providers and the achievements and lessons learnt from the implementation of a regional EQA programme for AMR. This AMR CoP and webinar are supported by the Fleming Fund’s EQA Grant for Africa (EQuAFRICA), together with… Read More

The Assay Verification Tool is designed to help laboratories implement new tests, making it easier to design, setup, and analyse data generated as part of a new test procedure verification. The tool provides planning assistance for assay verification experiments for PCR testing for CE-IVD assays. Data analysis of the performance specifications for assay verification is… Read More

The Laboratory System’s Strengthening Community of Practice (LabCoP) fifth annual meeting report presents key summaries of session highlights, proposed actions and recommendations from the 2021 annual meeting. The meeting, held both virtually and in-person from 1-2 December 2021, brought together 16 country teams, a variety of funding agencies, and ASLM collaborating partners and Management Team…. Read More

On 15 March 2022, ASLM’s LabCoP convened a session to review efforts to increase community access to COVID-19 antigen rapid diagnostic testing (Ag RDT) services, drawing experiences from Nigeria and South Africa. A significant portion of the continent’s SARS-CoV-2 testing needs remain unmet. One key to closing this gap is a well-coordinated scale up of… Read More

On 10 March 2022, ASLM’s LabCoP convened a session on external quality assessment (EQA) for SARS-CoV-2 and other emerging viruses. EQA is a vital tool that provides objective evidence on the credibility of reporting test results, and labs are required to use it to monitor their performance. Conditions for the implementation of EQA vary, depending… Read More

LabCoP’s March 2022 ECHO session focused on generating demand for HIV viral load (VL) testing through targeted communications campaigns. For people living with HIV and on antiretroviral treatment, taking a VL test is essential in monitoring if the treatment is working. The World Health Organization recommends at least one annual VL test. Yet, knowledge around… Read More

LabCoP’s February ECHO session introduced the HIV Laboratory Waste Cost Assessment Framework (WCAF), an MS Excel-based tool co-developed by the US CDC and Roche Diagnostics, under a public-private partnership to support accurate quantification of solid and liquid wastes generated in PEPFAR-supported countries, to allow easy communication about waste management costs. The session was premised on… Read More

On 10 Feb 2022, ASLM held this ECHO session to cover genomic surveillance for SARS-COV-2 in Africa by Africa CDC’s Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative (Africa PGI). This initiative, a continental program launched in October 2020, aims to establish pathogen genomics and bioinformatics capacity in support of disease surveillance. In its first year, the initiative supported… Read More

The HIV Laboratory Waste Cost Assessment Framework (WCAF) is a tool to support laboratories with a standardised format for forecasting waste disposal costs for HIV viral load (VL) and early infant diagnosis (EID) to country level program managers for country operational plan (COP) planning. This tool was co-developed by US CDC and Roche Diagnostics under… Read More

On 27 Jan 2022, this extended ECHO session was convened to review the experiences from Tanzania’s first Tuberculosis Diagnostic Network Assessment. The aim of this assessment was to holistically understand the TB diagnostic network, identify key strengths and weaknesses and provide evidence-based recommendations to improve the network in Tanzania. The presentation was made by Samwel… Read More

Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT), or ‘vertical transmission’ is a significant contributor to the acquisition of HIV with an estimated 150 000 new HIV infections among children reported in 2020, and other infectious diseases including syphilis and hepatitis B (HBV). The 2021 World Health Organization global guidance on criteria and processes for validation: elimination of mother-to-child transmission… Read More

The World Health Organization’s 2021 Global Tuberculosis Report presents key facts, global findings, commitments, strategies and targets on tuberculosis (TB). The report demonstrates an overall drop in performance and reversal of gains in both diagnosis and treatment of TB achieved over the years leading to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in most of the six WHO regions…. Read More

On 8 December 2021 this special ECHO session was held to focus on the role of the Diagnostic Evidence Hub in accelerating uptake of diagnostic innovations. The Diagnostic Evidence Hub, launched in 2020 by the FASTER Project and hosted on the ASLM website, provides easy access to consolidated regulatory and performance data for test methods… Read More

On 4 November 2021, ASLM`s LabCoP monitoring and evaluation (M&E) sub-community of practice, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, convened a session focusing on monitoring country level viral load (VL) programs. Countries are putting in place robust systems to evaluate HIV VL programs to determine if set objectives, desired outcomes and impactful results are… Read More

On 28 October 2021 this Extended ECHO session focused on neglected tropical disease laboratories, their potential to act as effective reference labs with effective implementation of robust quality management systems (QMS) including external quality assessment (EQA) programs. Presentations were made by Dr Andreas Gilsdorf, Head, German Epidemic Preparedness Team SEEG), German Agency for International Cooperation… Read More

In September 2021 the World Health Organization released updated guidance on maintaining essential health services during COVID-19, which provides direction on modifications and specific measures for safe delivery of HIV services, and considerations for transition towards restoration and recovery. Surveys of 101 countries have revealed substantial disruptions across all major health areas with up to… Read More

On 14 October 2021 this Extended ECHO session was convened to discuss the basics of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI), the critical importance of screening for LTBI in addition to active TB case finding. Experts discussed gaps in the current TB care cascade, considered various options for LTBI screening and highlighted the benefits of the test-and-treat… Read More

Essential diagnostic tests satisfy priority healthcare needs of a population and are selected based on disease prevalence, public health relevance, evidence of utility and comparative cost-effectiveness. Whereas essential testing services are such a critical piece in disease diagnosis, treatment monitoring, research and ongoing surveillance; pandemic containment measures, including repurposing testing capacity to the response, quarantine,… Read More

Low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) currently experience low testing coverage in the face of increasing demand to meet the needs of millions of people living with HIV, TB, HPV, hepatitis and other diseases. Therefore, innovative solutions are urgently needed to enable a robust, efficiently utilised testing capacity, and a healthy and secure market with competitive… Read More

On 16 September 2021, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted another session in our series on manufacturers of COVID-19 diagnostics products. This session featured Siemens Healthineers and Thermo Fisher Scientific. The session focussed on innovations in SARS-CoV-2 to handle detection and surveillance of the fast-emerging variants of concern (VOC) and variants of interest (VOI) that have implications on… Read More

On 9 September 2021, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss the evolving role of diagnostics in the COVID-19 pandemic response. Testing, when used effectively, is one critical tool that supports control of any disease outbreak including the COVID-19 pandemic. Swift case identification and contact tracing inevitably prevent further disease transmission. Researchers have worked… Read More

On 7 September 2021, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened by ASLM, in conjunction with Africa CDC, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and Last Mile Health to provide an orientation and overview of the COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Diagnostic Testing (Ag RDT) training e-learning course. The course, hosted online through the ASLM Academy, allows free and… Read More

On 2 September 2021, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to share details on the COVIOS antigen rapid diagnostic test (Ag RDT) technology, status of regulatory approval, requirements/consumables to operate the test, and how Ag RDTs can be deployed to support testing programmes for COVID-19 epidemic control. COVIOS, developed by the Global Access Diagnostics, a… Read More

LabCoP’s August 2021 ECHO session focused on sharing progress in HIV viral load (VL) monitoring among patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) from eight sub-Saharan Africa countries between 2013 and 2018. Monitoring of VL suppression at individual and population level is necessary to ensure achievement of global epidemic control. Despite significant challenges that hinder uptake in… Read More

LabCoP’s July 2021 ECHO session focused on unlocking the potential of tiered laboratory networks through laboratory capacity mapping. Mapping the capacity of a national laboratory network is a powerful tool that supports visualizing what the testing capacity is, their location, and the population served. In this session, Dr Pascale Ondoa, Director of Science and New… Read More

On 15 July 2021 this Extended ECHO session was convened to discuss the WHO`s End TB Strategy that requires universal drug susceptibility testing and treatment of all tuberculosis case. Fewer than desired drug-resistant tuberculosis cases receive appropriate treatment due to either limited access to or sophisticated laboratory infrastructure needs. This webinar provided details on the… Read More

On 8 July 2021, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss the perspective of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in leveraging on existing HIV community engagement to respond to COVID-19 challenges and opportunities. In this session, two CSOs, The National Forum for People living with HIV&AIDS Networks in Uganda (NAFOPHANO) and The Zimbabwe National Network… Read More

On 30 June 2021 this Extended ECHO session was convened to discuss the implementation of the Lateral-Flow Urine Lipoarabinomannan (LF-LAM) assay for the detection of active tuberculosis (TB) in people living with HIV.  The session provided an overview of current World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendations, practical considerations to increase uptake, LF-LAM inclusion within the package… Read More

LabCoP’s June 2021 ECHO session focussed on generating demand for HIV viral load (VL) testing through targeted communications campaigns. WHO recommends at least one annual VL test for each person on Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) as this is essential in monitoring if treatment is working. Generally, knowledge around the importance of VL tests as… Read More

In June the ASLM LabCoP monitoring and evaluation (M&E) Sub-CoP held an ECHO session on viral load (VL) testing data quality assessment. The presentation provided an overview of the 2020 WHO-UNAIDS-PEPFAR-Global Fund module for assessing and strengthening the quality of VL testing data within HIV programmes and patient monitoring systems. Kenya shared their country’s VL… Read More

These guidelines, published by the World Health Organization, provide new and updated recommendations and good practice statements in the following areas: starting antiretroviral therapy (ART), including initiating treatment outside the clinic and support for same-day ART start; frequency of clinical visits and ART refills; measuring adherence; tracing and re-engagement in care for all populations; psychosocial… Read More

On 12 May 2021, this Extended ECHO session was convened to discuss the Global Fund COVID-19 funding mechanism, an opportunity for countries to request funds to strengthen their health systems in response while mitigating the effects of COVID-19 on other essential health services including HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria. An innovative tool was discussed, that… Read More

In May 2021 the ASLM LabCoP monitoring and evaluation (M&E) Sub-CoP held a session on data management, dashboards and connectivity solutions for HIV viral load (VL) and early infant diagnosis (EID). Presentations were made by Yonatan Gossaye Dessalegn, Senior Associate Software Developer on Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) Global Laboratory Services Team; Kalechristos Abebe, IT… Read More

On 13 May 2021, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss a series of case studies on country experiences regarding the design and implementation of digital tools to manage the COVID-19 pandemic. The series was compiled by the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) in collaboration with ministries of health and government partners. The goal was to promote… Read More

On 29 April, 2021 this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss tuberculosis (TB) and the COVID-19 pandemic. This panel discussion session was moderated by Rinuka Garde, Senior Advisor at the Clinton Health Access Initiative, and included three renowned experts in the field of TB and general lung health, including: Lucica Ditu, Executive Director Stop… Read More

On 22 April 2021 ASLM’s LabCoP M&E Sub-community of practice held a south-to-south learning session during which the Uganda country team shared their experience in rolling out monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems for viral load (VL) including virtual dashboards that allow for performance tracking at various administrative levels. The session covered key aspects of data… Read More

On 15 April, 2021, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted the 13th session in a series about manufacturers of COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tools, featuring Abbott Rapid Diagnostics and Beckman Coulter Inc. In this session, Dr Anna Ruzhanskaya, Scientific Marketing Manager, CISEE, Beckman Coulter and Dr Kuku Appiah, Director Medical and Scientific Affairs-Abbot, share with participants some new developments… Read More

On 8 April, 2021 this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss the Africa CDC Trusted Travel Platform and how to create a ‘Trusted Network’ of COVID-19 testing laboratories in Africa. To support the reopening of boarders and economies without risking disease spread, Africa CDC and partners are championing the concept of Trusted Travel and… Read More

On 7 April, 2021, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted the 12th session in a series about manufacturers of COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tools, featuring Thermo Fischer Scientific. This session also focussed on mutation and variant surveillance of SARS-CoV-2. Without a robust, coordinated universal effort to identify and characterize emerging variants, societies risk suffering significant setbacks in health care… Read More

On 1 April 2021, ASLM`s LabCoP M&E Sub-CoP, in collaboration with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Division of Global HIV and Tuberculosis (DGHT) convened a session focusing on indicators for scale-up of viral load (VL) testing and program outcomes. Presentations were made by Nadia Solehdin, an epidemiologist, and Kat Sisler, an evaluation… Read More

On 25 March 2021, this Extended ECHO session was convened to discuss the role of laboratory information management systems (LIMS) to collect, process, and store human biospecimens. Dr Dominique Anderson, Researcher, and Team Lead for Bio Collection Informatics at South African National Bioinformatics Institute, University of the Western Cape; and Prof Alan Christoffels, Director &… Read More

This presentation by the Clinton Health Access Initiative outlines the steps of an integration implementation framework for tuberculosis (TB) and HIV diagnostics, and related diseases, top tips and caveats (what could go wrong and lessons learned) from pilot countries on each step and area of implementation. It provides a deeper understanding of activities required for… Read More

This presentation by the Clinton Health Access Initiative outlines the need for point-of-care (POC) testing, how integrated testing improves access to POC, the benefits of integration, and considerations and implementation framework for integrated testing.

The GX Capacity Utilisation Analysis Tool is an Excel-based tool to assess the capacity utilisation of GeneXpert platforms for integrating tuberculosis (TB), HIV, HCV and HPV testing. It has been used to identify platforms running with full-capacity and with un-used capacity to inform integration decisions in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and… Read More

The Integration Readiness Assessment Tool developed by Clinton Health Access Initiative and partners helps countries gather situation analysis information regarding an individual facility’s readiness to provide integrated testing for tuberculosis (TB), HIV and HPV. The assessment output of this MS Excel-based checklist allows for identification of sites where TB/HIV/HCV/HPV integration on the GeneXpert platform would… Read More

On 17 March, 2021 this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss outcomes, successes and lessons from implementing emergency SARS-CoV-2 external quality assessment proficiency testing in Africa. The African Joint taskforce on Coronavirus (AFTCOR) guidance objective 2 under Laboratory diagnosis is to ensure quality-assured testing for COVID-19 diagnosis, and strengthening reference laboratories and laboratory networks… Read More

On 5th March 2021, ASLM hosted a special COVID-19 session that looked at COVID-19 genomics surveillance and how mutations can affect diagnostics and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). Genomic surveillance looks at the different sets of primers that are available and check the mutation into the primary targeted or binding sites. Mutations accumulate within the population… Read More

On 2 March 2021 this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss the African experience in expanding COVID-19 testing using Antigen Rapid Diagnostic Tests (Ag RDT). It has been over one year since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by WHO. There is still much concern that COVID-19 infections are increasing in some countries after several… Read More

The catalytic investment in point-of-care (POC), early-infant-diagnosis (EID), and viral-load (VL) technologies by the Accelerating Access to Innovative Point of Care HIV Diagnostics Project, implemented in partnership between UNICEF, Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), ASLM, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF) and Unitaid, has shown significant results over the years. It has contributed to filling… Read More

On 18 February 2021, the LabCoP M&E Sub-Community of Practice held its second session that unpacked the fundamentals of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and its importance in viral load (VL) monitoring. The use of VL data is essential for patient-level and program-level decision making. VL data is often unavailable, delayed, or underutilised, hindering monitoring interventions… Read More

On 11 February 2021, ASLM, in collaboration with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s International Laboratory Branch (CDC ILB) and partnership with Roche, hosted a webinar aimed at creating access to tools that will help laboratories improve their activities and services for viral load (VL) and early infant diagnosis (EID). The presentation provides… Read More

On 12 February 2021, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened for Prof Tulio de Oliveira to discuss the work of the Network of Genomic Surveillance of South Africa (NGS-SA) and the need to build a genomic network in Africa. From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the NGS-SA started genetic sequencing early enough by building… Read More

Laboratory diagnosis is an essential element of communicable disease surveillance, both for routine confirmation of infections and for the rapid identification of the cause of outbreaks and epidemics. An inaccurate diagnosis can have severe and expensive consequences such as inappropriate treatment or wastage of vaccines and test kits. Implementation of a strong quality management system… Read More

On 5 February 2021, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted the first ECHO session of the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) sub-community of practice. M&E assesses the performance of projects and programs set up by organizations to improve current and future outputs. A robust M&E system is critical to assess the performance of testing services and for decision making…. Read More

LabCoP’s January 2021 ECHO session covered PEPFAR’s Country Operational Plan 2021 and the laboratory systems strengthening priorities of the year. Dr George Alemnji, Senior Technical Advisor for PEPFAR Laboratory Services (OGAC), Washington DC, presented during the session. Please follow the links posted here to view the recorded video session on ASLM’s YouTube channel, and download… Read More

On 2 February, 2021 this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss expanding COVID-19 testing at schools, borders and at the workplace, in an effort to reopen economies. As many countries over the world are experiencing the second wave of COVID-19, forcing some to go back to stringent lockdown measures, countries are grappling with how… Read More

On 29 January 2021, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted the 10th session in a series about manufacturers of COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tools, featuring BD (US) and DiaSorin (Italy). Laboratory diagnosis remains the cornerstone for the control of COVID 19. New diagnostic methods with higher sensitivity and specificity, as well as faster results, are necessary and are continuously… Read More

On 22 January, 2021 this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss testing strategies for COVID-19 antigen rapid diagnostic tests (Ag RDT) and Africa CDC’s testing guidelines and recommendations. The start of 2021 has seen new challenges arise in the COVID-19 pandemic, with rapidly growing spread and new virus variants. To urgently address this, the… Read More

In December LabCoP conducted the inaugural session of the new LabCoP Extended series to introduce the Score-TB package, an integrated set of assessment tools for supporting the implementation of a QMS in laboratories performing tuberculosis tests. The Score-TB package was launched by Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), in collaboration with the Global Laboratory Initiative… Read More

In November 2020 the LabCoP stakeholders met online to convene the 2020 Face-to-Face virtual meeting. LabCoP’s 4th Annual Meeting aimed to assess the progress of LabCoP countries’ action plans and the outcome of ongoing interventions; discuss laboratory system strengthening across diseases through reviewing challenges and best practices in maintaining routine viral load (VL), early infant… Read More

ASLM and Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND) have produced a guide on how to develop and validate in-house RT-PCR tests for SARS-CoV-2. This guidance is essential, particularly in settings with limited diagnostics, including low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) where diagnostics are not immediately available during a pandemic. During the current COVID-19 pandemic the much… Read More

On 12 November 2020, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss the launch of the SARS-CoV-2 antigen rapid test training package developed by ASLM and Africa CDC, in partnership with CHAI, AFENET, AMREF, and Last Mile Health. The training package, available to all African Union Member States, aims to support the scale-up of SARS-CoV-2… Read More

ASLM in collaboration with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and in partnership with the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Amref and Last Mile Health present the Quality Assurance Framework for SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Rapid Testing for Diagnosis of COVID-19. This framework aims to provide general technical guidance to African Union Members States on the… Read More

On 27 October 2020, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss funding and procurement mechanisms for SARS-CoV-2 antigen rapid tests. As countries prepare to roll out SARS-CoV-2 antigen testing, understanding funding and procurement mechanisms will be critical in ensuring countries have access to adequate rapid tests. Several countries are planning to secure antigen tests… Read More

On 23 October, 2020 ASLM’s LabCoP hosted the ninth session in a series about manufacturers of COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tools, featuring STANDARD Q COVID-19 antigen rapid diagnostic test (Ag RDT). A new global partnership by WHO, The Global Fund, UNITAID, Africa CDC, FIND and other partners ensures that low-priced, high-quality Ag RDTs are available internationally… Read More

On 21 October, 2020 ASLM’s LabCoP hosted the ninth session in a series about manufacturers of COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tools, featuring Abbott’s Panbio Ag RDT, an in-vitro diagnostic test for the qualitative detection of SAR-CoV-2 antigen. In this session, Dr Kuku Appiah, Director, Medical & Scientific Affairs, Africa, Abbott Rapid Diagnostics discuss the Abbott Panbio… Read More

On 14 October, 2020 ASLM’s LabCoP dedicated a special session to digital solutions in support of health care providers, systems, and stakeholders, and how they have been applicable to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is increasingly clear that adopting digital technology and integrating it into Ministries of Health (MoH) policy is key for smooth coordination and… Read More

On 9 October 2020, this COVID-19 ECHO session and expert panel was convened to discuss what, why, and how the COVID-19 antigen rapid diagnostic tests (Ag RDTs) can be rolled out for optimal clinical and public health outcomes in Africa. Ag RDTs are fast and easy-to-deploy diagnostic methods that take 10 – 15 minutes to… Read More

On 5 November, 2020 this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss considerations of pooling specimens for testing by real-time RT-PCR. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) detection, also known as COVID-19 diagnosis, is performed using a molecular technique referred to as real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). This has remained the method of… Read More

On 10 September 2020 LabCoP hosted a special ECHO session about establishing diagnostic connectivity for laboratory network data flow across conventional and point-of-care systems. More than before, use of clinical laboratory data to inform decision making has become crucial in both direct patient care and in local, regional and international healthcare systems programming. The emergence… Read More

LabCoP’s August ECHO session covered external quality assessment (EQA) proficiency testing coverage, results and sustainability from the perspective of a service provider. EQA provides a measure of performance of testing laboratories and helps identify deficiencies and opportunities for improvement across the entire testing cascade. In this session, we discuss integrating economic principles into EQA, to… Read More

As part of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, laboratory diagnosis has remained as the cornerstone to this intervention. Molecular assays performed on nasopharyngeal swabs or other upper respiratory tract specimens are the most commonly used and reliable tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19. A variety of RNA gene targets are used by different… Read More

Decentralising laboratory testing for COVID-19 to on a national scale will be effective if COVID-19 nucleic acid testing is extended to subnational levels. However, this expansion process from national to sub-national levels has to be balanced carefully so as to meet the increasing demanding for the COVID-19 testing service while maintaining a high quality of… Read More

On 18 September 2020, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss antigen testing’s role in helping control the COVID-19 pandemic. Real time Polymerized Chain Reaction (rt-PCR) testing to detect SARS-CoV-2 has been the WHO recommended method to diagnose COVID-19. However, this method has not always been available at every tier of the laboratory network… Read More

On 17 September 2020, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss self-collection of nasal specimens as a means to lowering the barrier to SARS-CoV-2 testing and access to care. Diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2 remains a challenge today, even months since the outbreak of the pandemic and with the emergence of several innovations. In the… Read More

On 13 August 2020, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss optimization of diagnostic networks and their key role in responding to COVID-19. Optimised national diagnostic networks are key to increasing access to high-quality diagnostics. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, some sub-Saharan African countries leveraged more than a decade of investments in… Read More

On 6 August 2020, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss laboratory data management considerations for COVID-19 response. Long turnaround times (TAT) for laboratory test results and poor data quality are chronic problems for many testing services. Timely and accurate testing services for COVID-19 are essential for monitoring the spread of the pandemic and… Read More

These updated guidelines (in English, French and Portuguese) for the Stepwise Laboratory Quality Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA), published by WHO, provide a framework for countries in the Africa Region in their efforts to strengthen medical laboratory services through fulfillment of the requirements of the ISO 15189 standard. The SLIPTA Guideline describes key elements of… Read More

On 15 July 2020, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss the public health lab networks and SARS-CoV-2 testing challenges, strategies, and lessons learned from the USA. During emergencies like COVID-19 when laboratory testing services surge, there are risks of a health care system being overwhelmed. Well-structured strategies must be formulated to cope with… Read More

On 10 July 2020, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted the eighth session in a series about manufacturers of COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tools, featuring Roche Diagnostics International. Presentations were made by Dr Wim van der Helm, Head of Healthcare Development, Roche Diagnostics, Europe, Middle-East, Africa and Latin America, and Dr Matthias Strobl, Senior Clinical Science Leader, Infectious Diseases,… Read More

On 8 July 2020, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted the seventh session in a series about manufacturers of COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tools, featuring EUROIMMUN AG, and Hologic. The session covers: overview of available SARS-CoV-2 laboratory test kit(s) e.g., what genes are targeted; performance, run time and other technical considerations of SARS-CoV-2 molecular diagnostics; requirements/consumables not supplied with… Read More

The World Health Organization has updated their interim operational guide for maintaining essential health services during an outbreak, to support countries preparedness and response during the COVID-19 pandemic. It supplements existing and future WHO guidance on the wider implications of COVID-19 for health systems, and cross-government strategies for responding to the COVID-19 outbreak. The updated… Read More

In this study, Robert Fischer, et al, present their assessment findings on N95 respirator decontamination and re-use for SARS-CoV-2 (24 April 2020), using four different decontamination methods – UV radiation (260 – 285 nm), 70º C dry heat, 70% ethanol and vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP). The authors recommend that N95 respirators be decontaminated and re-used… Read More

In this paper, Kenneth Kintu, et al, investigated the virological suppression (achieving viral loads < 50 copies per mL) before giving birth with dolutegravir compared to efavirenz, when initiated during the third trimester. They found that dolutegravir was associated with higher rates of viral load reduction in pregnant women compared with efavirenz. Although both regimens… Read More

David Berlin, et al, present key clinical features of severe COVID-19 in the New England Journal of Medicine (21 May 2020). The authors start with a clinical description of a 50-year old COVID-19 patient. The authors recommendation is that the most important aspect of care is careful monitoring of respiratory status to determine whether endotracheal… Read More

The World Health Organization has published Version 2 (22 May 2020) of their guidance about HIV, viral hepatitis and STI programmes in relation to COVID-19. The guidance is intended to support national HIV and viral hepatitis programmes and their health workers, to provide guidance to people affected by HIV and viral hepatitis, and to maintain… Read More

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has published this Rapid Risk Assessment Report on the association of paediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome (PIMS) and SARS-CoV-2 infection in children (15 May 2020). ECDC concludes risk communication should emphasise that PIMS is a rare condition and that its potential link with COVID-19 is neither established… Read More

In Nature Communications, Chuyan Wang, et al (4 May, 2020) describe a human monoclonal antibody that neutralizes SARS-CoV-2 in cell culture. The authors highlight that the cross-neutralizing antibody targets a communal epitope on the virus and may offer potential for prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

LabCoP’s June ECHO session covered differentiated service delivery (DSD) for HIV care. DSD is a client-centered approach aimed at simplifying and adapting HIV services to different groups of people living with HIV, while reducing the burden on the health system. In recent months, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic has included adjustments to clinical care… Read More

On 18 June 2020, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted the sixth session in a series about manufacturers of COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tools, featuring PerkinElmer and Pro-Med. Stephanie Wilbraham, Market Development Manager, PerkinElmer, and Neil Barker, Co-Founder, Pro-Med Diagnostics, South Africa presented about the overview of their available SARS-CoV-2 laboratory test kit(s), performance, run time & other technical… Read More

On 11 June 2020, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted the fifth session in a series about manufacturers of COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tools, featuring KH Medical and Inqaba Biotec. Dr Aron Abera, Technical Support Manager, Inqaba Biotec, South Africa; Dr Julius Muhumuza, Technical Advisor, KH Medical Co., Ltd.; Mr Adam Hong, CEO, KH Medical Co., Ltd.; and Dr… Read More

The World Health Organization has published interim guidance on the use of masks in the context of COVID-19 for health settings and home care. This interim guidance provides detailed pragmatic advice to decision makers on the use of masks for healthy people in community settings based on risk, vulnerability, settings and feasibility.

In a retrospective study of hospitalized patients with COVID-19, by Joshua Barbosa et al, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, it shows that Hydroxychloroquine does not seem to have meaningful benefits on clinical outcome measures of mortality, lymphopenia, or neutrophil-to lymphocyte ratio improvement. The authors demonstrate that patients receiving Hydroxychloroquine appeared to have… Read More

On 2 June 2020, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss establishing an integrated specimen referral system (SRS) for SARS-CoV-2 testing recommended to enable access to testing services across the entire health pyramid. Many countries struggled to operationalise this guidance and failed to create sustainable and efficient sample transportation systems. Due to various challenges,… Read More

In July of 2019, the World Health Organization and the African Society for Laboratory Medicine organized a meeting with countries and key stakeholders in diagnostics to discuss and find concrete ways to improve and increase access to integrated multiplex technologies and determine how they can be translated into public health policy that impacts global impact.

In this MEDSCAPE commentary, Dr Paul Sax from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School summarises some of the most common questions regarding COVID-19 and HIV: Is COVID-19 a more severe disease in people with HIV? Do I need to come in for my regular blood tests and checkups? Do my antiretroviral medications protect… Read More

In this guideline, specifically prepared for COVID-19 pandemic, Africa CDC advises Member States to use the characteristics of the epidemic in their country to decide when and how to do contact tracing. Namely, in Epidemic Phase 1-2 where imported cases and cases in known transmission chains the guidance is to trace all contacts. In Epidemic… Read More

The Writing Group of the Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital COVID-19 Treatment Guidance Working Group presents a compressive guidance for existing treatment for COVID-19. The guidance strongly recommends clinical trials for potential treatments before any use, how to use immune modulatory agents to treat COVID-19 such as IL-6R or IL-6 Monoclonal antibodies, intravenous… Read More

This study by Nathan Ford, et al. (20 March, 2020), published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society, presents the systematic review of clinical outcomes using antiretroviral drugs for the prevention and treatment of coronaviruses and planned clinical trials. Their review indicates that it is uncertain whether LPV/r and other antiretrovirals improve clinical outcomes… Read More

On 28 May, 2020 ASLM’s LabCoP hosted the fourth session in a series about manufacturers of COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tools, featuring Abbott. Presentations were made by Dr Claudio Galli, Associate Director, Medical Scientific Affairs Global, Abbott Core Laboratory, and Dr Liane Bauer, Director, Professional Services EMEA, Abbott Core Laboratory. They covered topics including detection of… Read More

During severe shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) due to COVID-19, one solution to consider is decontamination and extended use of medical masks and N95/FFP2 respirators for health workers at the frontline. On 26 May, 2020 ASLM’s LabCoP hosted a session that covered these considerations and additional recommendations on homemade masks that have protection equal… Read More

On 20 May 2020, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to discuss procurement and the supply chain for COVID-19 diagnostics. Dr Lara Vojnov, Diagnostics Advisor at the World Health Organization, Geneva, and Dr Yenew Kebede, Head of Laboratory Services at Africa CDC presented about the need to coordinate and collaborate test availability and access; current… Read More

LabCoP’s May ECHO session covered the key considerations for expanding COVID-19 capacity to the sub-national level and featured the Ethiopian experience. During this session, participants learnt about the need to scale up diagnostic capacity; governance and coordination issues essential for expansion of COVID-19 testing; leveraging on existing capacity to cope with the needs; strategies for… Read More

The May 2020 Waste Management training session focused on SARS-CoV-2 laboratory biosafety guidance and featured the presentation of David Bressler, Health Scientist and Microbiologist at the International Laboratory Branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly all countries are scaling up COVID-19 testing as one of the main strategies to eliminate the… Read More

On 14 May 2020, this COVID-19 ECHO session was convened to assist the African laboratory community in designing and implementing an effective COVID-19 quality assured testing program. Mr Patrick Mateta, Vice President, Global Health Partnerships, at Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) presented about how to plan and prepare for COVID-19 testing, the selection and… Read More

This article, published in STAT, lists the COVID-19 drugs and vaccines in development, to help inform efforts to treat or prevent COVID-19. Note: The article lists novel medicines, not repurposed medicines.

On 8 May 2020, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted part 2 of an ECHO session about COVID-19 serology tests. Serological diagnostic testing has been proposed to be useful in combination with molecular testing, in confirming COVID-19 infection or exposure to the virus. Serology tests also have the potential to be delivered in rapid format and at the… Read More

On 30 April 202, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted the third session in a series about manufacturers of COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tools, featuring Abbott and Bio-Rad. Dr Danijela Lucic, Senior Scientific Affairs Manager, Global Infectious Disease, Abbott Molecular, and Dr Marcus Neusser, EMEA Product Manager, Gene Expression, Bio-Rad, Germany, and Mr Richie Petronis, Product Manager, Bio-Rad, USA,… Read More

On 29 April 2020, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted this ECHO session on strategies to implement fast turn-around laboratory testing for control of COVID-19, presented by Dr Trevor Peter, Senior Director, Diagnostic Services, Clinton Health Access Initiative. Nucleic acid testing is the WHO-recommended method for detecting SARS-CoV-2. The global scale-up of COVID-19 diagnostics will depend on use… Read More

On 24 April 2020, Professor Rosanna Peeling and colleagues from the International Diagnostics Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine pulled together evidence for and against the original set of recommendations for use of serologic tests. Prof Peeling was joined by Dr Yenew Kebede from Africa CDC and Dr Amadou Sall from… Read More

This paper describes the steps taken by Brazil before the first COVID-19 cases were identified in that country. The steps included creation of ordinances and laws, setting up of emergency operating centers, and clearly articulating how isolation and quarantine will be done. The paper also examines the advantages of these measures. Based on the Brazilian… Read More

This paper highlights important research questions regarding SARS-CoV-2 which include origin, virus transmission, viral shedding, diagnosis, treatment, vaccine development and viral pathogenesis. The paper proposes that research on SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, if it seeks to answer these important questions, will solidify the scientific basis on which important policy and scientific decisions are made to contain… Read More

This presentation by Prof Yazdan Yazdanpanah, published by the Global Research and Innovation Forum, presents a global roadmap for the control of COVID-19. The roadmap defines research priorities regarding how to stop the transmission of COVID-19, and how to mitigate its impact, as well as a governance framework from an ethics point of view. The… Read More

This study, by Xi He et al, published in Nature Medicine (15 April, 2020), reports that 44% of secondary COVID-19 cases were transmitted by people who had not yet developed symptoms. The findings emphasize that control measures should be adjusted to account for probable substantial presymptomatic transmission. Sensitive and specific molecular and serological testing is… Read More

Laboratories need to conduct verification or validation studies to confirm that new tests for COVID-19 diagnosis perform as intended. In this document co-authored by ASLM, FIND and the London School for Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, further key requirements for quality assurance are defined, including quality control and external quality assessment that laboratories should follow to… Read More

LabCoP’s April ECHO session featured presentations about maintaining HIV and TB testing in the context of COVID-19 from Dr George Alemnji, Senior Technical Advisor for Laboratory Services at the State Department Office of Global AIDS Coordinator (SGAC) and Health Diplomacy, US CDC; Dr Lara Vojnov, Diagnostics Advisor, WHO; and Dr Dennis Falzon, Medical Officer, World… Read More

This study by Dr Bin Cao, et al, 2020, in the New England Journal of Medicine describes a trial of lopinavir–ritonavir in adults hospitalised with severe COVID-19 where no benefit was observed with this treatment beyond standard care.

This systematic review of the efficacy and safety of antiretroviral drugs against SARS, MERS, or COVID-19 (initial assessment) was conducted by Dr Nathan Ford, et al, 2020. Their conclusion from the available evidence is that it is uncertain whether LPV/r and other antiretrovirals improve clinical outcomes or prevent infection among patients at high risk of… Read More

This report details the first full genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 from Africa to be released, with genomic data generated and assembled, and phylogenetic analysis performed by ACEGID and NIMR scientists.

The Liverpool Drug Interactions Group (based at the University of Liverpool, UK), presents an exhaustive chart about common drug interactions with experimental COVID-19 therapies.

This March 2020 presentation of the WHO-China joint mission includes key findings on COVID-19. Epidemiologic and technical insights to contain the pandemic are also covered.

This modelling study by Marius Gilbert, et al, published in the Lancet, 2020, evaluates preparedness and vulnerability of African countries against importations of COVID-19. Their evaluation was based on WHO International Health Regulations (IHR) Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Framework, and on an indicator of vulnerability to emerging epidemics.

This article published in the New England Journal of Medicine by W. Guan, et al, 2020, describes the clinical characteristics of affected patients with COVID-19 in China. The findings show more frequent absence of fever in COVID-19 than in SARS-CoV (1%) and MERS-CoV infection (2%). This can have an implication if surveillance case definition focuses… Read More

This paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Neeltje van Doremalen, et al, 2020, describes the stability of viable SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces and in aerosols in comparison with SARS CoV-1. The results indicate that aerosol and fomite transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is plausible, as the virus can remain viable in aerosols for multiple… Read More

This article by Mark S. Lesney and published by MDedge, 2020, highlights the news that researchers have identified the structure of a spike protein that could turn out to be a potential vaccine target for the 2019-nCoV that causes COVID-19. The research further suggests that future antibody isolation and therapeutic design efforts will benefit from… Read More

On 16 April 2020, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted the second session in a series about manufacturers of COVID-19 molecular diagnostic tools. Dr Davide Manissero, Chief Medical Officer of Infection and Immune Diagnostics at QIAGEN, and Mr Riegardt Johnson, Field Application Scientist at Thermo Fisher Scientific presented about their available COVID-19 laboratory test kit(s), their status regarding… Read More

On 14 April 2020, ASLM’s LabCoP hosted the first session in a series about manufacturers of COVID-19 molecular diagnostics tools, including BD and Cepheid. Dr Charles Cooper, Global Vice President, Medical Affairs, Integrated Diagnostic Solutions at BD, and Ms Rujeko Tsomondo, Regional Application Lead at Cepheid presented about their available COVID-19 laboratory test kit(s), their… Read More

This report by WHO gives an overview on the use of licensed medicines for indications that have not been approved by regulatory authorities. It provides a scientific summary of key aspects to consider in off label use of medicines and the need to adhere to national regulations on the use of medicines. It also stipulates… Read More

This is an exhaustive PowerPoint presentation by Paolo Surico and Andrea Galeotti about the economics of a pandemic, using COVID-19 as a case study. The presentation sheds light on the science, health policies, economics and macroeconomic policies.

The European Centres for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has published this technical report about safe handling of bodies of deceased persons with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 to be used by public health authorities in EU/EEA Member States and the United Kingdom. These considerations may help inform the approach in Africa.

This paper by Erin K. McCreary and Jason M. Pogue about COVID-19 treatment describes a review of early and emerging options. The authors summarize the current evidence as of 19 March 2020 to provide guidance on potential COVID-19 treatment options.

The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control published this self-isolation guidance for Nigerians on 18 March 2020 that providesdetailed description of what self-isolation means during COVID-19 pandemic and step-by-step instructions for adherence. This guidance may help inform the policies set forth my ministries of health of other African countries.

This paper by Chengzhi Yang & Zening Jin, 2020, indicated that individuals with underlying chronic cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) were both more susceptible to COVID-19 and more prone to critical conditions and death. Therefore, continued observations of the cardiovascular complications of the disease are needed.

On 8 April 2020, ASLM and LabCoP convened a special ECHO session on lessons the African continent can learn from the Korean experience in controlling COVID-19 Dr Seon Kui Lee, Director, Division of Risk Assessment & International Cooperation at the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), shared an overview of the KCDC and… Read More

Mozambique provided this Excel-based tool, with its accompanying instructions, as a country example of a comprehensive diagnostic network optimisation or mapping tool at the July 2019 Global Diagnostics Integration meeting in Geneva. The government sought a tool that could be: subnational, consider multiple potential technologies as well as both laboratory-based and point-of-care, incorporate testing across… Read More

Developed by the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) for its country teams and ministries of health, this tool can be used to assess the financial benefits of integrating tuberculosis (TB), HIV, and HCV testing on the GeneXpert machine. The tool only covers cross-cutting costs (i.e. not disease-specific) regarding the use of GeneXpert, such as equipment,… Read More

This paper by Shaobo Shi et al, 2020, explores the association of cardiac injury with mortality in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China.

Africa CDC has published this guidance and recommendations for community social distancing during the COVID-19 outbreak. Social distancing is an accepted strategy to delay and reduce the magnitude of outbreaks of pandemic influenza. It is necessary at the individual and community levels, because transmission occurs frequently from person-to-person.

This paper by David M. Morens and Anthony S. Fauci provides insight about the 1918 influenza pandemic and lessons learned, which could still apply in the 21st Century related to COVID-19, Ebola or other outbreaks.

This review about the epidemiology and pathogenesis of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by Hussin A. Rothan et al, 2020, in the Journal of Autoimmunity highlights the symptoms, epidemiology, transmission, pathogenesis, phylogenetic analysis, and future directions to control the spread of this fatal disease.

This paper by Yixuan Wang et al, 2020 summarises the latest literature on genetic, epidemiological, and clinical features of COVID-19 compared to SARS and MERS, and emphasises special measures on diagnosis and potential interventions. This review can improve our understanding of the unique features of COVID-19 and enhance our control measures in the future.

WHO has published interim guidance for laboratory testing for coronavirus disease COVID-19 in suspected human cases. It also describes safety procedures for specimen collection and testing from suspected cases and contacts. Suspect cases should be screened for the virus with nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT), such as RT-PCR. Download the guide and read more.

On 30 March 2020, ASLM and LabCoP convened a special ECHO session on the latest available technology to diagnose COVID-19, and recommendations for clinical care and surveillance. Dr Cassandra Kelly-Cirino, from the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), and Prof Rosanna Peeling, from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, gave an overview of… Read More

On 25 March 2020, ASLM and LabCoP convened an ECHO session on troubleshooting common challenges associated with establishing diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2 (the causative agent of COVID-19). Dr Jinal Bhiman, Director of the National Influenza Centre at the NICD, South Africa, presented practical solutions to address the most common challenges encountered by laboratory staff recently… Read More

The March 2020 waste management training session focused on Hologic’s Best Practices for Waste Handling. Todd Richmond of Hologic, shared his experiences, expertise and advice on the waste and contamination management of Hologic’s Panther. In collaboration with the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) and the LabCoP community, the CDC International Laboratory Branch (ILB) offers… Read More

Pre-analytical challenges threaten the quality of viral load (VL) testing. This study determined the impact of delayed testing and warmer storage conditions on HIV RNA stability in diagnostic samples. Viral load in samples stored for up to a week reliably differentiated between patients with antiretroviral therapy (ART) suppression and ART failure in the majority of… Read More

Plasma preparation tubes (PPT) can simplify storage, transport, and preparation of plasma used for viral load (VL) testing. This systematic review evaluated the accuracy of PPTs for HIV VL testing. The results showed that following proper sample handling techniques helps provide accurate results. The authors thus recommended PPTs as a high-quality alternative specimen type for… Read More

This systematic review and meta-analysis summarizes evidence that shows that task shifting of testing using point-of-care technologies from laboratory professionals to non-laboratory staff was comparable to laboratory professionals operating the same technology in the laboratory. Task shifting of clinical tasks to lower cadres of health care workers and lay counselors has been successful in scaling… Read More

This paper by Jilian Sacks et al, 2019, presents a meta-analysis of studies comparing the Cepheid Xpert HIV-1 viral load (VL) plasma assay to traditional laboratory-based technologies. Cepheid Xpert HIV-1 VL plasma assay results were highly comparable to laboratory-based technologies with limited bias and high sensitivity and specificity to detect treatment failure. Alternative specimen types… Read More

This paper by Katherine Lamp et al, 2019, outlines an analysis of point-of-care (POC) CD4 invalid result rates across five countries. The authors found that the rate of invalid results was consistent across all types of health facilities, and the invalid rates were inversely correlated to operator usage, with high-volume operators. They concluded that POC… Read More

In this session, colleagues from Kenya shared findings from the assessment of waste handling practices in their viral load (VL) and Early infant diagnosis (EID) laboratories. They discussed contextual issues in regard to VL & EID laboratory testing capacity and networks, laboratory self-assessment using a VL & EID customized assessment checklist, findings/results, lessons learnt, challenges… Read More

WHO has published these recommendations for health workers and global health professionals who travel, to help them stay safe and minimise their chances of contracting the 2019-nCoV in the course of their work. Please download these documents below.

These presentation slides are from the Women-Centered Diagnostics satellite session of the 2019 International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA 2019) that was jointly organized by the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), UNICEF and Unitaid. Much has been done… Read More

To reach the third 90 of the UNAIDS 90–90–90 targets, country programmes must delve into their data and understand how they represent the quality of viral load (VL) testing services. This guide, published by WHO, presents key considerations and examples of tools (provided in the annexes) to assist countries in developing a national VL M&E… Read More

The African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) has been designated by WHO-AFRO in October 2012 to coordinate and lead the implementation of the Stepwise Quality Laboratory Improvement Process towards Accreditation (SLIPTA) in Africa. ASLM has then developed a standardized SLIPTA auditor training curricula and trained the training at a country and regional levels. The training… Read More

Welcome to the point-of-care (POC) early infant diagnostic (EID) landscape in Africa. Through funding provided by Unitaid, partners including the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), UNICEF, and ASLM have successfully supported the introduction of POC EID and viral load (VL) technologies and pilot activities in sub-Saharan African countries. Strategic deployment of POC EID is key… Read More

WHO-AFRO has established the Stepwise Laboratory Quality Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA) programme, a framework for improving the quality of public health laboratories in developing countries to achieve ISO 15189 standards. Through standardised processes, SLIPTA measures and evaluates the progress of laboratory systems towards international accreditation and awards a certificate of recognition (0-5 stars rating). This map shows the distribution and ratings of laboratories that have been audited.

The November 2019 Waste Management training session focused on the perspectives of Abbott Laboratories’ Best Practices for Waste Handling. Delfin Rubin, Global Product Manager of HIV Care for Infectious Disease Emerging Markets at Abbott Rapid Diagnostics, and Ami Soni, EHS Lead for Abbott Molecular describe the constituents of their HIV rapid point-of-care diagnostics, such as… Read More

The purpose of this tool is to assist in identifying gaps and creating awareness of best practices for waste management processes in viral load (VL) and early infant diagnosis (EID) molecular testing laboratories (and associated healthcare facilities), in order to provide a starting point for assistance in waste mitigation strategies. This tool is for completion… Read More

In October 2019 the LabCoP stakeholders met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to convene the 2019 Face-to-Face meeting. It was co-convened by ASLM and the World Health Organization to enable countries to objectively assess their progress towards the improvement of the viral load testing (VLT) cascade, consolidate the implementation of interventions, enhance collaboration with civil society… Read More

Diagnostic network optimization is an exercise that aims to redesign the diagnostic network set-up in order to increase access, maximize impact, and generate efficiencies. It aligns testing demand and capacity in the most cost-effective way by defining the optimal instruments mix, identifying the most appropriate locations where instruments should be placed, and designing the referral… Read More

WHO has produced a biosafety video series entitled, “Good Microbiological Practice and Procedures (GMPP)”, which is central to the WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual (LBM4) being revised and finalised. These seven training videos will help enhance the safety of any health laboratory, including those in resource-limited settings.

With limited funding for global health, identifying practical, cost and time-saving solutions, while also ensuring quality of care is increasingly important. One approach to increasing access to point-of-care (POC) testing is integrated testing (a term often used interchangeably with “multi-disease testing”), which tests for different conditions or diseases using the same diagnostic platform. This brief… Read More

This fact sheet gives the situation as of July 2019 of the status of HIV self-testing (HIVST) in national policies, implementation of Treat All ART recommendations among adults and adolescents living with HIV, implementation of Treat All policy for pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV, national policy on routine viral load testing for monitoring… Read More

Increased access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and treatment monitoring for pregnant and breastfeeding women living with HIV is a priority for promoting health during the pregnancy and post-partum periods, and to minimize the risk of vertical transmission of HIV to infants. Point-of-care viral load (POC VL), which allows testing to be conducted at or near… Read More

Currently, about half of patients on antiretroviral treatment have access to viral load testing; however, access remains focused within a small number of countries. To date, routine HIV VL monitoring, which is considered the best method for monitoring antiretroviral treatment, has been fully implemented in only 68% of low- and middle-income countries, and partially implemented… Read More

Scaling up viral load (VL) testing to reach the third 95 of the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets by 2030 requires a holistic approach, addressing each step of the VL testing continuum from the demand for the test for all eligible patients to the utilization of test results. Bottlenecks and inefficiencies along the VL testing cascade as… Read More

In this session we focused on the issues of policy, legal and regulatory frameworks for waste management, using an example from South Africa. This session underscored the fact one of the common noted challenges in many settings was that there were and still are limited or no existing national policies or guidelines on dealing with… Read More

This HIV viral load (VL) testing cascade self-assessment scorecard and user guide is used by the LabCoP country teams to identify critical gaps in their laboratory systems and assess the status of the different thematic areas of the VL cascade and their testing services to help identify opportunities for improvement. It was designed by the… Read More

WHO has updated its Essential Diagnostics List, a catalogue of the tests needed to diagnose the most common conditions as well as a number of global priority diseases.

This Waste Management session covered updates to the checklist for assessments of viral load (VL) and early infant diagnosis (EID) testing laboratories and associated healthcare facilities. David Bressler, MS, CBSP (SM) NRM of the International Laboratory Branch, CDC, Division of Global HIV and TB presented to the audience about the checklist/tool and its ability to… Read More

Integrating testing using multiplex technologies at the appropriate level of care can lead to more efficient and cost-effective testing services and can help to simplify and streamline other systems, such as specimen referral, human resources, and quality assurance. Integration should be a priority for both those countries with currently operational multi-disease testing devices and those… Read More

This Rapid Testing Continuous Quality Improvement (RTCQI) training video and competency assessment tool is available on a free virtual education platform, PEPconnect to assist ministries of health, health-care providers, and stakeholders in planning, implementing and sustaining quality assurance for point-of-care testing. Critical for the first of UNAIDS’ 90-90-90 targets, this platform is developed by the… Read More

In 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended viral load (VL) monitoring as the gold standard for monitoring the effectiveness of antiviral therapy (ART). One of the key barriers to VL testing in resource-limited settings is the lack of efficient specimen transport systems, to allow plasma or whole blood samples to reach the testing laboratories… Read More

The Stronger Together public-private partnership between Siemens Healthineers and PEPFAR is institutionalising quality improvement via a free e-platform, PEPconnect, through this library of 48 videos (with a total viewing time of 14.5 hours) that capture the lectures from the 9-day classroom-based Quality Control and Method Validation course. The course is designed to enable the participants… Read More

Early infant diagnosis (EID) is critical for timely initiation of antiretroviral treatment (ART) in HIV-infected children who are at high risk of mortality. In recognition of the immense benefits of dried blood spot (DBS) as a means of increasing the access to EID, the World Health Organization (WHO), African Society for Laboratory Medicine, Centers for… Read More

This guide, published by The Laboratory African Regional Collaborative (LARC) project, provides continuous quality improvement methodologies and tools. LARC supports clinicians, laboratorians and data record units to work together and improve the proportion of viral load test results put in patients’ files. LARC is a useful tool that can be used by countries to address… Read More

This review article identifies the benefits, enabling factors, and associated challenges for public and private sectors to engage in public-private partnerships. These partnership contributions to laboratory systems strengthening are a model, and present opportunities that can be leveraged to strengthen systems to accelerate the scale up of Viral Load and Early Infant Diagnosis to achieve… Read More

This supplement, produced by Labs for Life, a public-private partnership between Becton Dickinson, Company and The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), was published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases. This supplement is designed to support Ministries of Health, Laboratory Experts, Clinical staff, and implementing partners to improve global laboratory systems. This is accomplished… Read More

This course provides key information on safe practices, infection control, personal protective equipment, pre- and post-exposure prophylaxis, and ways to manage and dispose of health care waste properly. The goal is to familiarize Clinical health care workers with proper safety practices and help them: Protect themselves and their coworkers Protect patients and clients Protect the… Read More

This insightful paper was published in Plos about the missed potential of CD4 and viral load testing to improve clinical outcomes for people living with HIV in lower-resource setting

In the May 2019 session, Dr Katrina Sleeman, Associate Service Fellow in the Viral Load/Early Infant Diagnosis Team at the CDC ILB introduced a draft of a viral load WM checklist tool that can be used as baseline audit of select country VL labs. The tool aims to assist in creating awareness of best practices… Read More

In collaboration with ASLM and the LabCoP community, the CDC International Laboratory Branch (ILB) presented an overview of the World Health Organization (WHO) Publication: ‘Safe Management of Wastes from Health-Care Activities’ during the second ECHO session dedicated to waste management. This document, developed by WHO in 2017, highlights the key aspects of safe healthcare waste… Read More

In collaboration with the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) and the LabCoP community, the CDC International Laboratory Branch (ILB) presented the first session in a series of ECHO sessions dedicated to waste management. In this session we reviewed waste management practices at the country level using the responses to the November 2018 LabCoP Waste… Read More

This document, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2017, highlights the key aspects of safe healthcare waste management in order to guide policymakers, practitioners and facility managers to improve such services in healthcare facilities. It is based on the comprehensive WHO handbook ‘Safe Management of Wastes from Health-Care Activities’ (WHO, 2014), and also… Read More

This reference manual, published by PEPFAR and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a guide for Implementation Subject Matter Experts (ISME)s who offer either in country or remote technical assistance in viral load (VL) and early infant diagnosis (EID) scale-up. Collectively, it presents best practices and proposed solutions for the challenges that… Read More

The waste produced in the course of healthcare activities, from contaminated needles to radioactive isotopes, can cause infection and injury. Inadequate waste management is likely to have serious public health consequences and deleterious effects on the environment. The resources linked here and this downloadable handbook published by the World Health Organization (2014), provide comprehensive guidance… Read More

LabCoP has updated the Decision-Making Matrix that outlines strategic areas, strategic options, and priority action items for improvement in seven focus areas within the viral load (VL) cascade and across diseases, including demand creation, results utilization, waste management and biosafety, network optimization, monitoring and evaluation, quality management system, and access to essential diagnosis. This matrix… Read More

This presentation by Dr. Ritu Shrivastava from the International Laboratory Branch of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention covers free online, didactic and in-person resources available for global system strengthening through three public-private partnerships (PPP). These partnerships between the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and three private entities (Becton Dickinson and… Read More

In 2017, UNAIDS estimated 3,300 children under the age of 15 years died from AIDS-related causes in Cameroon. A key challenge is diagnosing and treating infants early in life. Now, a new point-of-care device, which provides results within minutes of testing, has overcome some major obstacles to treatment, giving hope to thousands of mothers and… Read More

Several new laboratory technologies are available or are being developed to allow for testing of different conditions using disease-specific tests on the same platform. For example, a single device may be able to test for the presence of tuberculosis (TB) and HIV, and quantitatively measure HIV and hepatitis C viral load by using disease-specific reagents… Read More

This publication provides high-level guidance on implementing and scaling up HIV viral load (VL) testing programmes for health ministries and implementation partners, using a three-phased approach: (1) planning; (2) scale-up; and (3) sustainability. The guidelines for managing antiretroviral therapy (ART) issued by the World Health Organization have recognized the importance of viral load monitoring since… Read More

Treatment initiation ART should be initiated in all children, adolescents, pregnant and breastfeeding women and adults living with HIV, regardless of WHO clinical stage and at any CD4 cell count. ART should be initiated in all children, adolescents, pregnant and breastfeeding women and adults living with HIV, regardless of WHO clinical stage and at any… Read More

Based on the recent encouraging evidence POC/ near-POC EID warrants  consideration of rapid adoption and strategic scale up of this solution complementing the existing laboratory network. Ravikiran Bhairavabhotla from CDC briefly outlines the  evidence and tools to support the strategic introduction of POC EID as part of a tiered national laboratory network.

Sufficient evidence has been generated on the performance of these assays in the intended field settings to support rapid national regulatory approval and initiation of scale-up. Performance was consistent between laboratory and field settings, and across countries. Further technical evaluations of these technologies are unlikely to add value, but may instead delay implementation and timely… Read More

Because of the high risk of death before the age of 2 years among HIV-infected infants, and given the increasing availability of paediatric antiretroviral treatment in many resource-limited settings, WHO recommends that national programmes should establish the capacity to provide early virological testing of infants for HIV.

To reduce morbidity and mortality among HIV-infected children and close the treatment gap for HIV-infected children, there is an urgent need to evaluate existing programmatic and laboratory practices for early infant diagnosis and introduce strategies to improve identification of HIV-exposed infants and ensure access to systematic, early HIV testing, with early linkage to treatment for… Read More

In this Malawi study, ART initiation rates were significantly improved with the implementation of same-day POC EID testing compared with referred, longer-turnaround laboratory-based testing.

In this cluster-randomized controlled trial, Jani et al. evaluated the effect of point-of-care (POC) early infant HIV testing on rates of antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation and retention in care among HIV-positive infants who presented for early infant diagnosis at health facilities in Mozambique. POC achieved more rapidly diagnosis and timely provision of treatment to HIV-infected… Read More

A real life story of how of POC EID devices strategically placed at the point where they are direly needed testing for HIV exposed infants in Malawi, are great impact for the infants and their families. Infants born to or breastfed by HIV positive mothers are in need of timely HIV because risk of mortality… Read More

Zibusiso Ndlovu, Epidemiologist and Laboratory Advisor with Médecins Sans Frontières, and colleagues demonstrated the feasibility of the GeneXpert multi-disease testing at the near point-of-care in district and sub-district health settings in Zimbabwe. Read the research article by clicking the link below.

In September 2018, Solange Baptiste and Helen Etya’ale from International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) presented about HIV viral load testing (VLT) demand creation. These presentations contain helpful information that country teams can use to improve demand creation for their HIV VLT programs. This includes information about the significance of demand creation for VLT and the… Read More

This four-step overview of Laboratory African Regional Collaborative (LARC) was presented by Patricia Riley from the International Laboratory Branch of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. LARC can be used by countries to address inefficiencies at the laboratory–clinical interface at clinic level, and achieve the 3rd ‘90’ of the UNAIDS 90-90-90 HIV targets…. Read More

On 15 May, 2018 UNICEF hosted a webinar to provide a broad overview of the Key Considerations Document and the HIV POC Diagnostics Toolkit and to promote coordinated dissemination of both resources amongst partners at the country level. Click the player to watch the webinar.  

Kenya’s presentation during the May LabCoP ECHO session included their experiences implementing the ‘Plan, Do, Study, Act’ (PDSA) cycle to prioritise and rapidly test ‘change ideas’ needed to facilitate the rapid identification of unsuppressed viral load (VL), followed by swift appropriate clinical action. Please follow the links below to watch the recorded session on ASLM’s… Read More

An extension of Key Considerations for Introducing New HIV Point of Care Diagnostic Technologies in National Health Systems, this Toolkit contains various practical tools and guidance to support countries as they introduce point-of-care (POC) HIV technologies into existing national diagnostic networks and laboratory systems. It provides a roadmap for countries as they seek to expand… Read More

Point-of-Care Testing: Why is it important? Imagine yourself in a city at the centre of one of the world’s deadliest disease outbreaks. You watch as your friends and relatives are struck down by an aggressive illness that kills roughly 50-90% of those affected. One evening, you go to bed tired and achy, awakening the next… Read More

Broadens access to HIV viral load monitoring On July 20, 2017, Cepheid received World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification for its Xpert® HIV-1 Viral Load (VL) test. The Xpert® HIV-1 VL test measures Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) RNA in human plasma from individuals infected with HIV-1 in less than 90 minutes. Measurement of blood… Read More

Representatives from the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), UNICEF and the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. (CHAI) came together 17-18 August 2017 in New York City, United States, to  review progress to date on the implementation of a joint point-of-care project and to refine coordination mechanisms to achieve greater impact.   “This project has… Read More

Gebremicael, et al. report results from a technical evaluation of the BD FACSPresto Point-of-Care CD4 platform in Ethiopia using capillary and venous blood samples. Researchers found acceptable agreement with conventional systems for measuring CD4 count, CD4% and Hgb concentration. This paper was published in April 2017 by PLOS ONE.

Vojnov, et al., present results from a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the benefit of using short message service (SMS) and general packet radio service (GPRS) printers to increase the efficiency of early infant diagnosis (EID) test result delivery compared with traditional courier, paper-based result delivery methods. The authors found that SMS/GPRS result delivery… Read More