Four out of five of the I-TECH Ethiopia supported laboratories were the best performing among the 21 enrolled in the second phase of a program to test lab performance.
Since 2010, a total of 45 labs (24 participated in the first and 21 in the second round) were enrolled in the program nationally.
Maychew hospital laboratory scored three stars and ranked first. Dubti, Dessie and Mekelle hospital laboratories scored two stars.
This achievement is a big a step forward for these laboratories.
The I-TECH Laboratory Team collaborated with the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute, regional laboratories, regional health bureaus and I-TECH departments and has been extensively working in the past two years with providing assistance in upgrading these laboratories to reach to the quality improvement standards. Assistance included minor renovations and refurbishment, equipment, training of staff, standardization of documents and records, supervision, and intensive mentorship.
In 2009, World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa established Step-wise Laboratory Quality Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA ) in order to help public health laboratories in resource limited settings work toward international. Lab quality is scored using SLIPTA’s ranking system, with 5 stars indicating readiness to seek international accreditation.