Senegal

Access to diagnosis

In Senegal, a leading West African country in terms of governance of laboratory systems, we have strongly contributed to the establishment of the Directorate of Laboratories. It now supports the country in the implementation of its strategic plan for laboratories and in the development of innovative tools to contribute to integrated disease surveillance.

RESAOLAB

Senegal is one of the 7 member countries of the West African Network of Medical Biology Laboratories (RESAOLAB) that we have created with the Ministries of Health of the member countries. Within this framework, it participates every year in training, laboratory supervision, quality assurance and external quality assessment.

The LabBook laboratory information system has been deployed in over 50 laboratories and contributes to quality management by securing data from the analytical process, as well as facilitating their integration into surveillance tools such as DHIS2 and WHONET, with the support of the US CDC Global Health Security Agenda and the NGO PATH.

Senegal is also one of the countries that have awarded scholarships for the BAMS (Bachelor in Applied Medical Biology) training delivered in Mali and now integrated into the Master of Medical Biology of the USTTB in Bamako and the Diploma of Specialized Studies in Clinical Biology.

We are partnering with the Fleming Fund/UK in Senegal to strengthen the country’s capacity to collect and process data on antimicrobial resistance with a One Health approach:

• In collaboration with the NGO PATH, the Institut Pasteur de Dakar and IUCN on the Country Grant to build the capacity of 6 laboratories for AMR surveillance
• On the Fellowship Scheme with VetagroSup School in Lyon and APHP (Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris) to support 6 laboratory professionals in human, animal and environmental health through a training and mentoring program.

We are also one of the founding members of the DiaTROPIX project, a diagnostic test production unit built on the Institut Pasteur campus in Dakar and inaugurated in 2020. This structure aims to produce quality rapid tests for the diagnosis of COVID-19 and other neglected tropical diseases at prices that are affordable for resource-limited countries in Africa.

Support for mothers and children

Thanks to the support of Fondation Christophe et Rodolphe Mérieux, we support Samusocial Sénégal in its fight against social exclusion and the marginalization of young people in the large cities of developing countries. In Senegal, we contribute to health education activities, as well as to the operation of mobile aid, day care (care and psycho-social assistance activities) and emergency shelters.