Back to Africa

I am preparing to leave for my second visit to Africa to continue our collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in support of the PEPFAR initiatives.  As I sit here writing this message I am struck by how much opportunity exists to make a positive difference, no matter how small, in the quality of life for our fellow man through this program. 

The clinical laboratory is only one component of the large healthcare system;  yet even in the early stages of building lab capacity, particularly in Tanzania, I have come to realize most of the patient care is triggered by an HIV or TB test, or malarial smear —  the “Big Three” infectious diseases in this part of the world. The timeliness and accuracy of these tests, in a resource-constrained environment, has a profound effect on people’s lives.  It determines the allocation of scarce medical personnel, drugs, and other resources to treat those who have the least.  CLSI’s efforts to date have focused on development of essential quality systems protocols, standard operating procedures, and integrating efforts with our coalition partners – ASCP, APHL, and ASM.

In addition to Dr. Michael Noble, Senior Technical Director and Laboratory Advisor, four CLSI volunteers are receiving their initial orientation to the program and will be valuable resources as we move forward.  We welcome:

• Yashwant Chudasama – Technical Specialist, St. Joseph Medical Center, Reading, Pennsylvania
• Anne Daley – Senior Managing Consultant, Healthcare Solutions, Roche Diagnostics Corporation, Indianapolis, Indiana
• Dr. Haynes Sheppard – Research Scientist and Section Chief, California Department of Health Services, Richmond, California
• Barbara Jean Van Der Pol – Research Associate, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana

We very much look forward to the second year of work on this cooperative agreement and to advancing the mission of CLSI by promoting best practices in clinical and laboratory testing worldwide.

Glen [ return to top ]