Establishment of COVID-19 testing laboratory in resource-limited settings: challenges and prospects reported from Ethiopia.

Establishment of COVID-19 testing laboratory in resource-limited settings: challenges and prospects reported from Ethiopia. Glob Health Action. 2020 Dec 31;13(1):1841963 Authors: Abera A, Belay H, Zewude A, Gidey B, Nega D, Dufera B, Abebe A, Endriyas T, Getachew B, Birhanu H, Difabachew H, Mekonnen B, Legesse H, Bekele F, Mekete K, Seifu S, Sime H, Yemanebrhan N, Tefera M, Amare H, Beyene B, Tsige E, Kebede A, Tasew G, Tollera G, Abate E, Woyessa A, Assefa A Abstract The Coronavirus pandemic is recording unprecedented deaths worldwide. The temporal distribution and burden of the disease varies from setting to setting based on economic status, demography and geographic location. A rapid increase in the number of COVID-19 cases is being reported in Africa as of June 2020. Ethiopia reported the first COVID-19 case on 13 March 2020. Limited molecular laboratory capacity in resource constrained settings is a challenge in the diagnosis of the ever-increasing cases and the overall management of the disease. In this article, the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) shares the experience, challenges and prospects in the rapid establishment of one of its COVID-19 testing laboratories from available resources. The first steps in establishing the COVID-19 molecular testing laboratory were i) identifying a suitable space ii) renovating it and iii) mobilizing materials including consumables, mainly from the Malaria and Neglected Tropical Dise...
Source: Global Health Action - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Glob Health Action Source Type: research