Given the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the TB-Lab project to strengthen the technical capacities of National Reference Laboratories for tuberculosis (NRLs) in West and Central Africa, continued its remote activities using several platforms (Zoom, Mentimeter, WhatsApp…).
During the months of March and April 2020, online training was provided for NRL managers on the drafting of a laboratory network contingency plan incorporating constraints linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. In all, 16 of the 24 countries in the network took an active part in the training sessions, which were held in both French and English. Following the training sessions, individual coaching sessions were organized for the NRLs, leading to the development of 16 contingency plans covering aspects as varied as laboratory supplies, sample transport, supervision activities, personnel management, equipment and laboratory services. Monitoring of these plans has enabled them to be integrated into each country’s overall National Tuberculosis Control Program.
In addition, as one of the objectives of the project is to support NRLs in the ISO 15189 accreditation process, a series of 20 webinars, in French and English, was organized on quality management in laboratories during July and August 2020. After a preparatory phase, the Supranational Reference Laboratory (SRL) in Cotonou, in collaboration with the SRLs in Antwerp and Milan, offered the NRLs 12 theoretical courses alternating with 8 practical exercise sessions for drafting various quality documents and tools. Twenty-one NRLs actively participated in these training courses, with an average of 80 participants per webinair. At the end of these training courses, the three countries that stood out for their participation and results in the various assessments were, in order: Gabon (1st), Nigeria (2nd), Togo (3rd). Participants gave an average score of 4/5 to express their satisfaction with the training courses.
Finally, occasional technical assistance in the form of advice was provided to certain countries such as Sao Tomé et Principe and Nigeria.