Improving laboratory management & efficiency

Assessing needs and capabilities

Our support for public authorities begins with the needs assessment phase, a key part of the process that provides an objective view of what capabilities are lacking via an inventory of existing facilities.

In Guinea, as part of the LAB-NET project, we are working with the health authorities to make an inventory of the labs in the country. More than 100 assessments have been carried out by teams of national and international experts, producing a map of available capabilities that will form the basis of an improvement plan and a national medical biology policy.

Promoting local ownership

If public health is to improve, then a laboratory system offering quality services is a fundamental prerequisite. However, diagnostics is the field which receives the fewest multilateral subsidies and government investment in developing countries. Laboratories often go unmanaged or receive insufficient support.

Our team of experts help ministries of health put management systems into place (monitoring quality, supervising facilities, mapping capabilities, needs assessments, etc.) and create National Laboratory Directorates equipped with technical service centers and training facilities.

This coordination and support is particularly active in West Africa as part of the RESAOLAB laboratory network, which we launched in 2009 with the health ministries of participating countries. Since 2015, we have been advising the network of Haitian laboratories as part of the SPHaïtiLAB project.