05 - Impact on HIV: Making Lab Tests More Accurate: Ghanaian Effort Offers Model Process

With an ambitious effort to standardize testing procedures, the national public health laboratory makes an important contribution to Ghana’s response to HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases that can serve as a model for countries in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.. . Providing the prompt, accurate diagnostic services so critical to effective health services is a challenge in countries with limited resources. Even in Ghana -- a country with a well-established public laboratory system and well-trained staff -- the accuracy of laboratory test results is not always a given.. . Findings from a series of proficiency tests conducted by Ghana’s National Public Health and Reference Laboratory (NPHRL) sounded the alarm about the quality of laboratory diagnostic services. "We would send the same sample to two different labs and get two different results," said Veronica Bekoe, NPHRL chief biologist.. . These findings suggested that many cases of HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs), malaria, meningitis, hepatitis and other diseases were being misdiagnosed.. . NPHRL officials suspected that a lack of standardization among the laboratories was at the root of the problem. During supervisory visits, NPHRL representatives had noted that specialists and technicians at all levels of the laboratory system, from ...

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