ASLM Launches the Regional Laboratory Professional Association for Advancement of Healthcare in Africa

In a groundbreaking move to bolster the laboratory profession in Africa, the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) unveiled the Regional Laboratory Professional Association during its biennial conference, ASLM2023. The association aims to play a pivotal role in reshaping the laboratory profession to effectively contribute to Universal Health Coverage. During the conference, ASLM hosted representatives… Read More

Metu Karl Hospital’s ISO Accreditation Shaping the Future of African Medicine

In a momentous achievement for African healthcare, Ethiopia’s Metu Karl Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (MKCSH) has achieved the prestigious ISO 15189:2012 accreditation in collaboration with key partners such as the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM). This achievement, recognised by the Ethiopian Accreditation Service (EAS-Ethiopia), particularly in molecular biology with a focus on PCR testing for… Read More

What’s New: January to August 2023

LabNetLead ASLM, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, FIND, and other partners have developed the Laboratory Network Leadership (LabNetLead) course to introduce concepts and activities essential to adequately design, optimise, lead and manage functional, high-quality laboratory networks. The course focuses on human health laboratory network management and is designed to complement the WHO Global Laboratory Leadership… Read More

Expert Experience

LabCoP recently sat down with Dr Rina Djubgang Djoukwe, Deputy Director of Laboratories and Blood Transfusion at the Ministry of Public Health of Cameroon, to talk to her about her illustrious career in laboratory medicine and experience leading the Cameroon LabCoP Team. ASLM: Dr Rina, your background is as a pharmacist biologist with a degree… Read More

Know Your Laboratory System!

Improving any system requires an understanding of how things function and being realistic about what is known and what is not before taking action. Since its launch in 2017, LabCoP has put assessment of laboratory systems and networks and evidence-based interventions at the core of its action. Over the last six years, LabCoP has doubled… Read More

Onboarding Botswana and Sao Tomé and Principe to LabCoP

Botswana and Sao Tomé and Principle are the latest countries to join the Laboratory Systems Strengthening Community of Practice (LabCoP). Their addition brings the total number of participating countries to 22. Botswana brings to LabCoP its experience as one of the first African countries to surpass the 2030 UNAIDS 95:95:95 goals on HIV. Led by… Read More

ECHO Sessions Summary: January to August 2023

The African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), in collaboration with partners, continued its successful series of information, knowledge and experience-sharing ECHO sessions through its flagship Laboratory Systems Strengthening Community of Practice (LabCoP) project. Below is an overview of the key sessions conducted between January 2023 and August 2023.  The Revised ISO 15189:2022 Series Following the… Read More

Uganda South-to-South Learning Visit: 19-24 June 2023

In June 2023, the Zimbabwe LabCoP team visited the Uganda National Health Laboratory Services (UNHLS) to learn about the operations of a reference laboratory and see how different units are best coordinated in light of expansions in scope. The visit also aimed at prioritizing interventions to address gaps identified during the integration readiness assessment and… Read More

Epidemiologists in Africa Rise to the AMR Data Challenge with QWArS Training

Two regional workshops, one in Nairobi, Kenya, in April and the other in Lusaka, Zambia, in late August, brought together human and animal health epidemiologists, hailing from Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, and Zimbabwe, to enhance their skills in the spatio-temporal analysis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and antimicrobial use (AMU) data. Under the Fleming… Read More

ASLM and WAHO/PROALAB Conducted Training on ISO 15189:2022 Standard for Implementors

The  African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) in collaboration with the West Africa Health Organization (WAHO/PROALAB) has facilitated a training workshop on the updated ISO 15189:2022 standards for implementors in member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). A total of 49 laboratory professionals (23 anglophone and 26 francophone) from nine countries attended… Read More