The East Africa Public Health Laboratory Network Project (EAPHLNP), a regionalWorld Bank-funded project, will establish and renovate five satellite laboratories in Rwanda.The project was designed to strengthen laboratories and establish a network of efficient, high quality, accessible public health laboratories for the diagnosis and surveillance of Tuberculosis (TB) and other communicable diseases in five countries in the East African region including Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya and Burundi.Dr. Odette Mukabayire, the Director General of the National Reference Laboratory, said the five laboratories will be located in Gihundwe, Nyagatare, Kibungo, Rubavu and Byumba.“The satellite labs will be centres in their catchment areas thus meeting high international standards. The infrastructure and equipment will be modern and we shall also have professional medical laboratory assistants,” she said.She added that laboratories in Africa are neglected and have been left behind compared to other health facilities, citing that even some major hospitals have poor laboratories.Mukabayire noted that they will also improve the general infrastructure of xisting laboratories.She said there were still few people qualified to work in laboratories, so they are working towards improving the capacity of medics and improving their analytical.Some Rwandan medics will be sponsored to pursue Fellowships, Masters and PHDs in laboratory related studies.EAPHLN funds countries to support public health by addressing key gaps that hold back provision of quality diagnostic services.It’s also supporting infrastructural improvements and provides critical equipment and supplies, building capacity of the health workers and improving the Information Communication Technology (ICT) in laboratories.
