ArticleAfrican journal of laboratory medicine2017
National laboratory policies and plans in sub-Saharan African countries: gaps and opportunities.
Article in African journal of laboratory medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 39 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Measuring training effectiveness of laboratory biosafety program offered at African Center for Integrated Laboratory Training in 22 President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief supported countries (2008-2014).Tropical medicine and health · 2023Article
- Status of countrywide laboratory services quality and capacity in primary healthcare facilities in Tanzania: Findings from Star Rating Assessment.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Challenges faced by the HIV testing system in low- and middle-income countries.African journal of laboratory medicine · 2023Article
- Contexts for developing of national essential diagnostics lists. Lessons from a mixed-methods study of existing documents, stakeholders and decision making on tier-specific essential in-vitro diagnostics in African countries.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
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- The Lancet Commission on diagnostics: transforming access to diagnostics.Lancet (London, England) · 2021Review
- Availability of essential diagnostics in ten low-income and middle-income countries: results from national health facility surveys.The Lancet. Global health · 2021Article
- Leveraging gains from African Center for Integrated Laboratory Training to combat HIV epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa.BMC health services research · 2021Article
- Antimicrobial resistance in a war-torn country: Lessons learned in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2020Article
- Point-of-Care HIV Viral Load Testing: an Essential Tool for a Sustainable Global HIV/AIDS Response.Clinical microbiology reviews · 2019Review
- Cancer care workforce in Africa: perspectives from a global survey.Infectious agents and cancer · 2019Article
- A new matrix for scoring the functionality of national laboratory networks in Africa: introducing the LABNET scorecard.African journal of laboratory medicine · 2016Article
- A Multilingual Tool for Standardized Laboratory Biosafety and Biosecurity Assessment and Monitoring.Health securityArticle
- Article
- Strengthening Biorisk Management Capacities in Burkina Faso: Contribution of the Global Health Security Agenda.Health securityArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe 2008 Maputo Declaration calls for the development of dedicated national laboratory policies and strategic plans supporting the enhancement of laboratory services in response to the long-lasting relegation of medical laboratory systems in sub-Saharan Africa.
objectivesThis study describes the extent to which laboratories are addressed in the national health policies and plans created directly following the 2008 momentum for laboratory strengthening.
methodNational health policies and plans from 39 sub-Saharan African countries, valid throughout and beyond 31 December 2010 were collected in March 2012 and analysed during 2013.
resultsLaboratories were addressed by all countries. Human resources were the most addressed topic (38/39) and finances and budget were the least addressed (< 5/39). Countries lagging behind in national laboratory strategic planning at the end of 2013 (17/39) were more likely to be francophone countries located in West-Central Africa (13/17) and have historically low HIV prevalence. The most common gaps anticipated to compromise the implementation of the policies and plans were the disconnect between policies and plans, under-developed finance sections and monitoring and evaluating frameworks, absence of points of reference to define gaps and shortages, and inappropriate governance structure.
conclusionThe availability of laboratory policy and plan implementation can be improved by strictly applying a more standardised methodology for policy development, using harmonised norms to set targets for improvement and intensifying the establishment of directorates of laboratory services directly under the authority of Ministries of Health. Horizontal programmes such as the Global Health Security Agenda could provide the necessary impulse to take the least advanced countries on board.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.