Workshop participants, representing fifteen organizations from the national system
This workshop brought together 23 participants from 15 technical organizations involved in Guinea’s national laboratory system. The objective was to present and validate proposed guidelines taken from the national external quality assessment programs in biochemistry and hematology, and in clinical bacteriology, to produce a single reference document.
This participatory workshop thus provided an opportunity for all the participants to validate the technical aspects of the National Guide for External Quality Assessment in Biochemistry, Hematology, and Clinical Bacteriology. Attendees also drew up an action plan to implement the program, defining the necessary resources and the next steps, including political validation of the guide by the cabinet committee in the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene.
This guide is the result of active collaboration between health stakeholders, a core aspect of RESAOLAB’s third phase. It is a key component in the continuous improvement of diagnostic quality and will contribute significantly to improving the quality of patient outcomes, as highlighted by Dr. Sékou Niouma Camara, director of Coyah’s regional health department, during the workshop.
Strengthening laboratory quality in RESAOLAB member countries
The technical workshop was organized as part of the third phase of the RESAOLAB project, with support from the Technical Assistance project for the Laboratories Department. Both these projects were established by the Mérieux Foundation, the first receiving financial support from the French Development Agency and the second from the Global Fund.
Strengthening quality is one of the pillars of RESAOLAB (the West African Network of Biomedical Analysis Laboratories). As such, the project helps laboratory departments and diagnostic facilities to implement regional and national external quality assessment (EQA) programs in biochemistry and hematology.
It was to this end that a technical summary for the organization of external quality assessment programs in hematology and biochemistry was drawn up, which the Guinea National Laboratories Department was able to use as the basis for its national document.
This document is the result of multi-country scientific collaboration between RESAOLAB members and experts from the Mérieux Foundation and ProBioQual, as part of the implementation of a regional EQA program for biochemistry and hematology funded by the project’s third phase.