COVID-19 ECHO Session #52: Efforts to Increase Access to COVID-19 Ag RDT: Nigeria and South Africa Experiences


March 23, 2022

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 quality, easy-to-use COVID-19 Ag-RDT testing to complement molecular testing, as many countries are doing to reinforce their COVID-19 response. In this session, Catherine Okoi, COVID-19 Laboratory Technical Advisor, Public Health Laboratory Services Nigeria Centre for Disease Control; and Lynsey Stewart-Isherwood, Senior Technical Specialist, Dept. of Molecular Medicine and Haematology, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, share their country’s experiences scaling up testing, opportunities and challenges. Please follow the links here to view the recorded ECHO session and download the presentation slides.