Abstract
Background: The 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola virus disease outbreak heavily impacted the Republics of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. The outbreak uncovered the weaknesses of the public health systems, including inadequately trained and insufficient health personnel as well as limited and poorly equipped health infrastructures. These weaknesses represent significant threats to global health security. In the wake of the outbreak, affected countries made urgent requests for international engagement to help strengthening the public health systems.Methods: This work describes the successful multi-year implementation of a laboratory capacity building program in the Republic of Guinea. The program integrated biorisk and quality management systems training, infectious diseases diagnostic training, facility engineering and maintenance training, and mentorship to strengthen Guinea's bio-surveillance capacity.Results: The major outcome of these efforts was an established and local staff-operated public health laboratory that performs disease surveillance and reporting and diagnostic of priority diseases and pathogens of security concerns.Conclusions: This work has improved the Guinea country's capabilities to address country public health issues and preparedness to respond to future infectious disease threats.
Highlights
Infectious agents are permanent threats to global health security and stability [1,2,3]
The training curricula for laboratory biorisk and quality management were adapted from the Global Biorisk Management Curriculum (GBRMC) and the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Laboratory Quality Management System Training Toolkit [15]
Twelve of the participants were from the National Institute for Public Health (INSP); five were from the Ignace Deen Hospital Laboratory; two worked at the National Tuberculosis Laboratory; one headed the Ministry of Health and Hygiene (MoHH)’s Directorate of Laboratories, which oversees laboratories and laboratory technician training within the country
Summary
Infectious agents are permanent threats to global health security and stability [1,2,3]. The 2014–2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa highlighted systemic public health weaknesses and the regional health systems were unable to mobilize adequate resources in time to stop early transmission. The outbreak uncovered the weaknesses of the public health systems, including inadequately trained and insufficient health personnel as well as limited and poorly equipped health infrastructures. These weaknesses represent significant threats to global health security. In the wake of the outbreak, affected countries made urgent requests for international engagement to help strengthening the public health systems
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