New Accreditation Program for Labs in Africa
The first push for accreditation of Africa's medical laboratories was recently launched by government health officials from 13 African countries, starting a process the World Health Organization (WHO) and the U.S. government believe will strengthen health systems and lead to better patient care.
Only a few of Africa's labs are currently accredited because international accreditation is time-consuming and many labs lack equipment, proper funding, adequate training and systematic management of work.
The accreditation process will operate under guidance from the WHO Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO) and the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) implemented through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) will help assign dozens of volunteer American lab workers and the Clinton HIV/AIDS Initiative will help implement training programs to improve African lab quality.
The five-step accreditation process has core standards for labs which will allow them to gradually receive credit for improvement and eventually obtain accreditation.
For more information visit: http://www.pepfar.gov/, http://www.afro.who.int/, http://www.ascp.org/, www.clintonfoundation.org/what-we-do/clinton-hiv-aids-initiative