Laboratory Quality, Safety and Security in Low Resource Countries

Executive Summary

Over the last few decades, new infectious diseases have emerged, causing outbreaks and pandemics that have been costly to both human health and the global economy. Many of these pathogens emerge from tropical and subtropical regions, where resource-limited countries predominate. Disease detection in these countries is slow, hindered by lack of financial and technical resources. Often, existing diagnostic laboratory equipment are unreliable, since expertise in maintenance and calibration of these devices are unavailable in the region. Likewise, protective devices for dangerous pathogens, such as biosafety cabinets (BSCs) are not operational, potentially exposing laboratory workers and the environment to microbial contaminants. To assist laboratories in maintaining reliability of equipment and safety best practices, our team proposes to develop job aids and checklists that will allow rapid assessment of equipment safety and reliability. These job aids, or tools, will be designed enable laboratory managers and workers to perform regular inspections of laboratory facilities and equipment to ensure biosafety, biosecurity, and quality of laboratory procedures and operations. To achieve development of these tools, our team will explore multimedia and innovative learning platforms, training systems and data capture tools. Laboratory self-inspection and repair will contribute to timely, accurate disease detection, improving international health security.

Team Members

Sue Lin Yee (team lead), CDC
Michelle Parson, CDC
Sabrina DeBose, CDC
Len Pernuski, CDC
Aufra Araujo, CDC
Bill Arndt, CDC

Milestones

October 2018: Project selected into the HHS Ignite Accelerator
June 2019: Time in Accelerator Began
September 2019: Time in Accelerator Ended