2.1 Improving the Quality of Bacteriology Diagnostics for AMR

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Round Two grants support improvements in external quality assurance of laboratory testing, training, quality diagnostics, and policy and advocacy.

This grant helps improve quality assurance of laboratory testing in Africa. Quality assurance is commonly acknowledged best practice and underpins confidence in the results of a laboratory. AMR surveillance systems must have external quality assurance (EQA) for bacteria identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing, which tests how well antibiotic drugs are working. However, EQA is expensive and the expertise required is not regularly accessible to many laboratories in low- and middle-income countries.   The Fleming Fund grants aim to strengthen EQA in these two critical areas - bacteria identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. Grantees are tasked with mapping available EQA services and establishing and strengthening EQA Reference Centres across the region.

Lead Grantee:

African Society of Laboratory Medicine

Sub-Grantees:

Africa CDC; Public Health England; Food and Agriculture Organization; National Institute for Communicable Diseases

Duration:

Oct 2019 - Dec 2021

Value:

£4,511,176

Countries:

Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Eswatini, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Objectives:

• Coverage, availability and uptake of external quality assurance programmes are mapped across One Health sectors
• Provision of External Quality Assurance services to National Reference Laboratories /centres of excellence are strengthened across One Health sectors.