To strengthen the country’s capacity to prevent and respond to disease outbreaks, the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN) in collaboration with the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has trained laboratory scientists on Laboratory Quality Management Systems in Abuja.
The four-day capacity building for the Yellow Fever Network of Laboratories across the country features Management and Technical requirements of ISO 15189:2012 modules amongst other areas.
According to IHVN Program Manager Laboratory, Mrs. Bimpe Balogun, it will “improve the laboratory system ensuring that results are reliable, accurate and reproducible. Hopefully, they can get national or international accreditation and that way, their result would be comparable to any laboratory in the world,” she said.
She added that with adequate skills and knowledge, laboratory scientists can avoid wrong diagnosis to prevent disease outbreaks. “Infected clients can be easily identified and quick intervention made to avoid the spread of infection by more people.”
NCDC Laboratory Network Advisor, Mrs. Celestina Obiekea, enjoined participants to “Listen and make use of the opportunity so that you can put to practice what you learn.”
Participants were drawn from National Reference Laboratory Gaduwa, Central Public Health Laboratory, Lagos, Maitama District Hospital, University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin, University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu and Yusuf Dan Tsoho Specialist Hospital, Kaduna.
Mrs. Ogbazi Josephine, Head of Quality Management from Central Public Health Laboratory, Lagos said that so far, the training “has improved our understanding of quality management. If quality management practices are followed, then we are definitely having accurate and timely results and for planning, so our people would be safe.”
Dr. Chukwubike Chinedu from the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, another participant said, “The training is coming at the right time for us, being a new laboratory for yellow fever diagnosis in the country. We need to see what others are doing and also to be able to produce quality result that would be integrated into the network.”
The training is part of activities of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the RESOLVE to Save Lives (RTSL) an initiative of Vital Strategies working with governments in Low and Middle Income Countries to improve capacity and preparedness and help the world prevent epidemics.
IHVN is implementing the RESOLVE sub-grant, spearheaded by Principal Investigator and Executive Director Laboratory Services, Prof. Alash’le Abimiku, to facilitate capacity reinforcement activities that will strengthen and expand existing national and regional laboratory systems and networks.