Uganda Selected to Coordinate ECSA's Regional Integrated Laboratory Systems Strengthening (ILSS) Project
4 th Oct, 2024 - NHLDS Quarters
In a step toward addressing Africa's diagnostic challenges, Uganda’s National Health Laboratory and Diagnostic Services (NHLDS) has been selected to coordinate the Regional Integrated Laboratory Systems Strengthening (ILSS) Project.
This was revealed during the Launch of the project at NHLDS offices in Butabika officiated by the First Prime Minister, Hon. Rebecca Kadaga, State Minister for Health Hon. Margaret Muhanga, Permanent Secretary Dr. Diana Atwine, Director General Health services Dr. Henry Mwebesa among other dignitories.
This project, led by the East, Central, and Southern Africa Health Community (ECSA-HC) with funding from the Global Fund, aims to strengthen laboratory diagnostic services across 21 African countries. These include; Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Uganda.
This comes at the back of Uganda’s Laboratory sector recognition as a center of excellence in Africa. Uganda's leadership role in this initiative is a testament to its growing expertise and commitment to enhancing the continent’s laboratory systems.
“I want to thank ECSA for considering Uganda as the lead on this project. I am proud to say that it is not by accident that Uganda was chosen. As far back as the 1960s Uganda has been a center of excellence in cancer and other areas and we are following in old footsteps, improving and getting more focused and organized,” Hon. Rebecca Kadaga- First Deputy Prime Minister.
The ILSS project will cover the following areas according to the Director General of ECSA, Mr. Sibusiso Sibandze;
Build capacity for Anti-microbial resistance surveillance
Build systems for pandemic preparedness
Strengthen Lab Quality Management systems
Develop in vitro diagnostics and
Equipment maintenance.
“The Ugandan Supra National Reference Lab performance and collaboration has been excellent which has led to the birth of the project we are launching today. This project has also been born out of the pressing need to intensify Africa’s capacity towards building a robust lab system in Africa for pandemic preparedness. The challenges we face in Africa are complex yet similar and countries are at different stages of how they are setting laboratory systems hence the ILSS project,” Mr. Sibusiso adds.
Dr. Susan Nabadda, Commissioner of NHLDS highlighted that Uganda’s overall coordination role in the ILSS project builds on its experience in managing major public health crises. Through the ongoing partnership between the Global Fund and ECSA-HC, the National TB Reference Laboratory in Uganda has been supporting National TB Reference Laboratories in 21 countries as a Supranational Reference Laboratory. This collaboration has set the foundation for Uganda to take on a broader leadership role in strengthening laboratory systems beyond TB diagnostics.
She emphasized the importance of Uganda’s selection, noting that the country’s leadership is not a reflection of having all the necessary resources but rather its willingness to share lessons learned from dealing with frequent disease outbreaks and pandemics.
“Uganda was chosen to lead in the Laboratory Systems Strengthening Project, not because we have all the capacities, but we thought we should share some experiences we have developed due to the frequent disease outbreaks we have gone through. We still have lots of needs like; majority of our people are referred to outside countries outside the continent for healthcare mostly because we have little diagnostic capacities, Cancers for example are diagnosed late, we are not able to diagnosis rare genetic and acquired diseases, micronutrient testing for nutritional surveys are referred outside the continent and the results take three years to come. These and other challenges are duplicated everywhere else on the continent”, Dr. Susan Nabadda.
The ILSS project received an initial budget of $5 million and will run from July 2024 to June 2027. By coordinating this initiative, Uganda will work closely with partner countries to develop integrated laboratory systems that can serve as a model for the region. The project will be overseen by a steering committee comprising of representatives from the 21 countries, civil society organizations, and country Lab directors.
“The success of the project will be witnessed not by lab outcomes but broader impact on system preparedness and wellbeing of our population in the implementing countries. This is much in line with ECSA mantra; to foster regional collaboration for better health in the region,” Mr. Sibusiso DG ECSA-HC.
As Uganda takes the helm in coordinating this pivotal project, Dr. Susan reaffirmed that Uganda remains committed to leading and collaborating with the regional and global partners to enhance the quality and effectiveness of diagnostic services, ensuring that health systems are robust and resilient and work towards increasing access to quality and affordable health laboratory services in Africa.
