The Latest From GHP | Read More About CLSI's Global Partnership's Updates

May 2023

This month CLSI led a 3-day virtual training to build and strengthen regional and local laboratory capacity on good clinical laboratory practice (GCLP) for the Caribbean Region. The program was developed with PEPFAR support from the CDC-Caribbean office and regional implementing partner, Global Laboratory and Epidemiology Systems Strengthening Network (GLESSN). Over 170 participants from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago were in attendance.

November 2022

Recently, CLSI's Global Health Partnerships (GHP) team continued its support of capacity building efforts in the Caribbean Region. In-person training workshops on Laboratory Biosafety Implementation provided laboratory management and staff with the essential knowledge and skills to comply with the requirements of the ISO 15190:2020 standard. CLSI's GHP team worked in partnership with the CDC-Caribbean and Global Laboratory & Epidemiology Systems Strengthening Network (GLESSN) to deliver this important training in Kingston, Jamaica to colleagues from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago.

August 2022

Zambia

CLSI wishes to congratulate the accredited laboratories in Zambia that recently underwent a periodic assessment by the accreditation body and were recommended for continued accreditation. We also want to recognize the tremendous efforts of the laboratories that are currently implementing QMS aligned to ISO 15189. We are so excited to be part of the laboratory system strengthening activities in Zambia together with our colleagues at the Zambian Ministry of Health, CDC, Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia Lab Innovation for Excellence (CIDRZ LIFE), and other stakeholders.

Zimbabwe

The Minsitry of Health (MOH)-Zimbabwe (ZW) is implementing a Laboratory Quality Management Strengthening program through the MoH-ZW Directorate of Laboratory services with CLSI support. Up until now, the singular path to strengthening quality has been through seeking of accreditation from regional and international bodies, by default, limiting the number of labs/testing points that can seek accreditation from cost and process considerations.

Informed by the MoH-ZW strategic plan for laboratory services, MoH-ZW initiated the National Certification framework for Medical Laboratories and Point-of-Care Testing (POCT) points. The CLSI team assisted with the planning, development, and launch of this certification program. The National Certification Framework for Medical laboratories and POCT Points has now been approved by the MoH-ZW. After training of auditors and sensitization of stakeholders, the program will launch with the first assessments of selected sites for certification on August 22.

July 2022

The CLSI GHP team is working in partnership with the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), the African Union (AU), and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on a flagship initiative entitled Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative (Africa PGI). Africa PGI is a new partnership that aims to strengthen laboratory systems and enhance disease surveillance by equipping the continent’s public health institutions with the tools, training, and data infrastructure to fully leverage critical genomic sequencing technologies. This new initiative is working to establish a cross-continent, integrated disease surveillance network, including capacity building to maximize the benefits of next-generation sequencing (NGS) tools towards driving genomic-based public health action. This laboratory network will help identify and inform research and public health responses to COVID-19 and other emerging epidemic threats and endemic diseases that disproportionately affect Africa, such as malaria, tuberculosis, HIV, cholera, and other infectious diseases.

June 2022

The CLSI GHP team continues its support of capacity building efforts in the Caribbean Region through the facilitation of a virtual training workshop on Laboratory Measurement Uncertainty to provide laboratory management and staff with the essential knowledge and skills to comply with the requirements of the ISO 15189:2012 standard. CLSI GHP works in partnership with the CDC-Caribbean and Global Laboratory & Epidemiology Systems Strengthening Network (GLESSN) to deliver this virtual training, along with other trainings previously in the areas of Laboratory Risk Management & Quality Control and Laboratory Quality Control & Method Evaluation–Molecular COVID-19 PCR Testing.

April 2022

CLSI is happy to announce that another laboratory in Zambia has been accredited. Together with our Zambian colleagues in the Ministry of Health, CDC, and CIDRZ LIFE, GHP congratulates the Levy Mwanawasa University Teaching Hospital

Laboratory in Zambia on its achievement of international accreditation aligned with the ISO 15189 standard for medical laboratories. Over the last several years, CLSI mentors have been working together with the laboratory team to establish and strengthen the laboratory’s quality management system. Congratulations to the laboratory team on this achievement!

January 2022

For over 15 years, CLSI has been supporting laboratory strengthening in Tanzania. We congratulate the 25 laboratories that received CLSI mentorship and were recommended for accreditation aligned to ISO 15189 in 2021 and the 15 laboratories that have submitted or are preparing to submit applications to the accreditation body.

Looking forward, GHP mentors will be working together with Tanzanian mentors to support QMS implementation in 11 laboratories that were added to the accreditation preparatory program this year and will continue working with 11 laboratories that have been carried over from previous years. Additionally, this year, CLSI mentors will continue to provide ISO 17043 QMS implementation support to laboratories in Tanzania that provide proficiency testing panels. We are looking forward to another successful year!

November 2021

CLSI congratulates the accredited laboratories in Zambia that recently underwent a periodic assessment by the accreditation body. Each laboratory continues to work hard to maintain their accreditation aligned with ISO 15189 with a few of the laboratories expanding their scopes of accreditation to include SARS-CoV-2 testing and other technical areas.

September 2021

CLSI Global Health Partnerships staff and the mentors would like to congratulate the 23 laboratories in Tanzania that have been recommended for accreditation to ISO 15189:2012 in the past several months. These laboratories are among the laboratories the CLSI mentors started working with in early 2020.

In preparation for assessments by the accrediting body, the CLSI mentors and the Tanzanian mentors trained by CLSI worked together with the staff of the laboratories to develop and implement a quality management system unique to each laboratory.

August 2021

Last November, during an annual planning meeting, 20 additional laboratories in Tanzania were designated for the accreditation program track with the support of the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MoHCDGEC), CDC, MDH, and CLSI. Together the stakeholders developed a workplan to assist the laboratories in implementing and strengthening their quality management system aligned to the requirements of the ISO 15189:2012 standard.

To start, CLSI mentors traveled to each laboratory for one week to conduct a gap assessment. The mentors shared an action plan with the laboratory and provided some strategies meant to help the laboratory close the identified gaps. The gap assessment was followed by a mentorship that was conducted by the Tanzanian mentor team with remote supervision and technical assistance by the CLSI mentors.

Recently, the CLSI mentors returned for one week at each laboratory to evaluate progress by reviewing the action plan from the gap assessment and providing some additional mentorship and training where gaps persisted. Next, the Tanzanian mentors, supported remotely by the CLSI mentors, will visit each lab again for mentorship. Laboratories have been working hard between the mentor visits to address the gaps identified, and many are on track to submit applications for international accreditation in the upcoming months.

June 2021

The CLSI GHP team's recent activities in Zimbabwe include: mentoring 55 labs to support quality management system implementation, performing President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) HIV Rapid Testing Continuous Quality Improvement (RT-CQI) baseline assessments at selected clinics, and supporting the facilitation of clinic-laboratory-interface (CLI) activities at health facilities. Our local Zimbabwe mentor team and support staff continue to spearhead these initiatives in close coordination with the Biomedical Research and Training Institute (BRTI), the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC), and the Medical Laboratory and Clinical Scientists Council of Zimbabwe (MLCSZ).

May 2021

Earlier this year, CLSI signed a contract with the Biomedical Research and Training Institute (BRTI) located in Harare, Zimbabwe to support continual improvement initiatives and laboratory systems strengthening efforts across Zimbabwe within testing laboratories, specimen referral hubs, and HIV point-of-care testing clinics. Our local Zimbabwe mentorship teams have been working tirelessly to perform laboratory baseline assessments, provide quality management system trainings to key laboratory personnel, build local capacity, and deliver valuable technical mentorship support. The CLSI GHP team is looking forward to sharing news of its work and progress as we continue to implement activities in Zimbabwe in close coordination with BRTI, the Ministry of Health and Child Care, and the Medical Laboratory and Clinical Scientists Council of Zimbabwe.

April 2021

Together with our Zambian colleagues in Ministry of Health, CDC, and CIDRZ LIFE, GHP congratulates the Chest Diseases Laboratory (CDL) in Zambia on its achievement of international accreditation aligned to the ISO 15189 standard for medical laboratories and Nchanga North General Hospital Laboratory for its achievement of a successful periodic assessment by the accreditation body. The CDL was a new addition to the mentorship program just last year; with some fine tuning to its quality management system, the lab achieved accreditation this year. Nchanga North General Hospital Laboratory was one of the first laboratories, with the support of the CLSI mentors in Zambia, to become accredited a few years ago. We are very happy for these recent successes, and we congratulate both laboratories!

March 2021

CLSI is happy to announce that another laboratory in Zambia has been accredited. Together with our Zambian colleagues in the Ministry of Health, CDC, and CIDRZ LIFE, GHP congratulates the Arthur Davison Children’s Hospital Laboratory in Zambia on its achievement of international accreditation aligned with the ISO 15189 standard for medical laboratories. Over the last several years, CLSI mentors have been working together with the laboratory team to establish and strengthen the laboratory’s quality management system. Congratulations to the laboratory team on this achievement!

February 2021

Together with our colleagues at the Zambian Ministry of Health, CDC, Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia Lab Innovation for Excellence (CIDRZ LIFE), and CLSI's Global Health Partnerships, we congratulate the Ndola Teaching Hospital Laboratory in Zambia on achieving international accreditation aligned with the ISO 15189 standard for medical laboratories. CLSI mentors have been working together with Ndola's laboratory team for several years to establish and strengthen the laboratory’s quality management system. The laboratory team has worked very hard, and we are excited for them!

January 2021

CLSI mentors began the new year by traveling to Tanzania for two workshops. The first workshop covered quality control and method evaluation, and the second workshop covered root cause analysis and corrective action. The workshop participants were from new laboratories that are earmarked for the accreditation track this year.

December 2020

Four CLSI mentors have returned to the field in Zambia, where they recently concluded a workshop to train a second cohort of Zambian mentors. The additional mentors will work alongside the CLSI mentors in laboratories refining their quality management systems (QMS) to prepare for initial assessments by the accrediting body. Together they are also conducting gap assessments in five additional laboratories that will prepare their QMS documentation and implement the QMS throughout 2021 in preparation for international accreditation.

Looking forward, GHP mentors will be working together with Tanzanian mentors to support QMS implementation in 11 laboratories that were added to the accreditation preparatory program this year and will continue working with 11 laboratories that have been carried over from previous years. Additionally, this year, CLSI mentors will continue to provide ISO 17043 QMS implementation support to laboratories in Tanzania that provide proficiency testing panels. We are looking forward to another successful year!

November 2020

CLSI is continuing its partnerships with Tanzania and Zambia for another year. This year’s planning has taken on a different approach, as the Global Health Partnerships (GHP) team meets and establishes work plans virtually. A hybrid design is sometimes adopted, in which some stakeholders are together in the physical room while others join in the virtual room. This year, the GHP team looks forward to working closely with mentors they have trained in both countries to expand quality management systems implementation to more laboratories seeking international accreditation aligned with ISO 15189.

October 2020

ogether with Zambia’s Ministry of Health and the US CDC, through CLSI's partnership with Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia-Lab Innovation for Excellence (CIDRZ LIFE), two laboratories recently underwent initial accreditation assessments. Both laboratories were recommended for accreditation aligned with ISO 15189. A third laboratory had a surveillance visit and added two of its specialized laboratories to the accreditation scope. CLSI mentors are now working with these laboratories to develop a corrective action plan that will address the few nonconformances identified during the assessments.

September 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, our Global Health Partnerships team has pivoted from its normal programming in our global health security agenda portfolio to support a request for biosafety, QMS, and molecular training of COVID-19 testing. This support effort is currently underway with our colleagues in Zanzibar through a series of virtual trainings.

August 2020

CLSI’s Global Health Partnerships (GHP) team is pleased to report that two of the laboratories they been working with through the quality management system program in Zambia recently underwent annual surveillance assessments by the accrediting organization, and both laboratories were successful. These assessments were unique because of COVID-19; the accrediting organization used virtual platforms to conduct them.

July 2020

CLSI’s Global Health Partnerships (GHP) team continues working to convert face-to-face training and mentorship into virtual programs where trainees can maintain their access to the technical support needed to meet their laboratory quality goals.

CLSI recently signed a contract to develop and implement an antimicrobial resistance (AMR) external quality assessment (EQA) qualification program in collaboration with the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) and its consortium partners under a Fleming Fund EQA grant for Africa (EQUAFRICA).

In further support of building and strengthening local capacity for equipment maintenance and calibration, CLSI signed a second contract with The Institute for Health Research, Epidemiological Surveillance and Training (IRESSEF) to continue work with partners to assist regional calibration centers to implement quality management systems and prepare for ISO 17025 accreditation.