EQuAFRICA (External Quality Assessment for Africa)

Under the External Quality Assessment (EQA) Grant for Africa (EQuAFRICA) project, ASLM and its partners, Africa CDC, National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) South Africa, UK Health Security Agency and the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), are working towards the establishment of regional capacity and coordination to provide bacteriology External Quality Assessment (EQA) Proficiency Testing (PT) panels in 14 Fleming Fund priority countries. The strategy follows the guidance of the EQuAFRICA advisory committee members: WHO Regional Office for Africa (WHO-AFRO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE). In addition to strengthening two African centres of excellence to complement the work of NICD in providing PT panels for AMR, EQuAFRICA aims to reinforce knowledge, skills, practice and regulation around quality management systems in general and EQA in particular. A strategic collaboration with BD Global Health has been established to facilitate the implementation of quality standards for bacteriology testing and achievement of ISO accreditation in reference AMR laboratories under One Health. In collaboration with its strategic partner, Africa CDC and the African Union, the National Laboratory Quality Framework (NLQF) has been developed to provide guidance to further strengthen national laboratory systems and networks.