The body, called the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), will begin work as early as July 2011, “to advocate for the critical role and needs of laboratory medicine on the continent,” ASLM Chair of the Board of Directors Dr. John Nkengasong told cheering participants at the end of three days of intensive work on how to chart a hitch-free course for the professional group.
Dr. Nkengasong explained, “the strong political commitment of the seven African Ministers of Health present at this meeting is a critical driving force; not just behind the historic launch, but a force that ASLM will continue to count on to grow and fulfill its absolutely essential objectives.”
ASLM “envisions all African nations providing affordable access to quality laboratory services, which make possible effective treatment and prevention of disease and a better life for all people,” according to its stated goal.
Dr. Nkengasong who also serves as Associate Director for Laboratory Science and Chief of the International Laboratory Branch in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Division of Global HIV/AIDS, set a tall and ambitious one-year agenda for the new body.
In particular, he announced that before the First Annual Meeting of ASLM in March/April 2012, it would have organized a writing workshop for scientists; hired all the core staff for the secretariat, including the Executive Director; appointed ASLM Ambassadors; and organized local, national, and regional ASLM chapters.
He said that his ambition is to make of ASLM the authentic face for the hundreds of African laboratory technicians and scientists who serve selflessly but with little or no recognition.
Similar enthusiasm was perceptible on the part of all the other stakeholders. At a dinner last night Angola became the first African country to officially commit to a budgetary allocation to support the secretariat of ASLM which will be based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
H.E. Frestas Evelize, Angolan Vice Minister of Health said that her government shares the vision of ASLM and would leave no stone unturned to see that it succeeds.
Cameroon’s Minister of Health, Mr. Mama-Fouda Andre, like his peers, outlined his country’s immediate plans to strengthen the development of laboratory medicine in Cameroon.
Representatives of donor agencies, Ambassador Eric Goosby, head of the U.S. President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), Dr. Kevin De Cock, director, Center for Global Health at CDC, Atlanta and other speakers reiterated the commitment of their institutions to continue to support ASLM.
On a continent where only 8.2% of laboratories in sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa ) are accredited and as recently as in 2010, only 28 of an estimated 1 million laboratories in all of Africa were accredited based on international standards, the future role of ASLM cannot be overemphasized.
Moreover, it is a well known fact that up to 70 percent of physician decisions are based on laboratory results. Additionally, laboratory accreditation is critical for ensuring the quality of laboratory results, and for fostering improvements in other sectors of the health care system.
Quality laboratory services are not just the gateway to treatment and management of priority diseases, laboratory data are essential for surveillance purposes and policy decision making.
During his remarks at the meeting, delivered via video stream, former U.S. President, Bill Clinton, whose Clinton Health Access Initiative has endorsed ASLM, used the occasion to make a clarion call for regional and international partners to support the initiative, because appropriate and accurate scientific laboratory results are the prerequisite for quality health care.
A representative of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC) also welcomed the ASLM as “the type of concrete initiative that the African Union seeks for the implementation of the African Health Strategy 2007-2015 adopted by African Heads of State and Governments in 2006.”
The ASLM launch brought together over 300 participants from 36 countries, including officials and seven Ministers of Health from Africa and leading organizations specializing in strengthening laboratory systems from Africa and the world. The World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO), CDC, PEPFAR, UNAIDS, the Clinton Health Access Initiative, American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), and other stakeholders have all made a strong commitment to raise the status and practice of laboratory medicine in Africa.
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The African Society for Laboratory Medicine is a Pan-African professional body working with countries to advocate for the critical role and needs of laboratory medicine. ASLM envisions all African nations providing affordable access to quality laboratory services, which make possible effective treatment and prevention of disease and a better life for all people.
