From September 2013 to September 2016, I-TECH conducted an implementation science research project to improve laboratory quality in Cambodia. The primary objective of the project was to implement a mentored laboratory quality stepwise implementation (LQSI) program to strengthen the quality and capacity of Cambodian hospital laboratories. As a result, target laboratories improved their operations in the areas of: biosafety, organization, personnel, equipment maintenance, purchasing and inventory, testing accuracy, process management, documentation and communication.
The project recruited and trained four laboratory technician to be mentors, training staff from 12 referral hospital laboratories in quality management systems (QMS), and reinforcing skills acquisition through in-person mentoring. Participating laboratories reported a 36% increase in quality management, 29% improvement in data management, and 25% improvement in specimen collection and handling. The laboratories established the foundational practices of a QMS, and the LQSI program has improved the recognition of the laboratory within the hospitals.
The I-TECH Cambodia Lab team. L to R: Sophanna Song, Cat Koehn , Siew Kim Ong, and Sophat Sek
I-TECH’s laboratory program began in Cambodia in 2013 with the goal to improve operations and regional biosurveillance and biosecurity through improved laboratory quality assurance and management practices. In collaboration with the Cambodian Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and with funding provided by the Department of Defense and DTRA, I-TECH strengthens the Cambodian laboratory system through:
Implementation of an intensive mentoring program at 12 national and provincial public health laboratories;
Leadership and management capacity building of MoH laboratory leaders;
Mentoring and capacity building the National Animal Health and Production Research Institute (in collaboration with Washington State University);
Job specific training delivered in service and through educational programs such as the Quality Assurance Certificate Course (in collaboration with the University of British Columbia);
Support for laboratory workforce development through on-site technical assistance and training;
Support for national laboratory system policy development.
The overall goal of the Enhancing Quality of Healthcare Activity (EQHA) program in Cambodia is to improve the quality of public and private health services in national and sub-national health systems by August 2023. The project, funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), is being implemented by Family Health International (FHI360) in collaboration with I-TECH and other partner organizations. I-TECH’s scope of work focuses on improvements to 1) the national health policy regulatory framework and 2) national pre-service health education and training institutions.
High-quality, effective, and evidence-based service delivery for HIV care and prevention requires a broad continuum of integrated and linked services to ensure consistent and high-quality client management over time. With the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendation to “Treat All,” eligibility for antiretroviral therapy (ART) among People Living with HIV (PLHIV) is eliminated, and all populations and age groups are linked in one universal policy. This recommendation change erases the distinction between all groups. However, a substantial number of PLHIV still present late to care and have advanced disease, and require interventions that prioritize clinical packages to reduce mortality and morbidity and eventually enable them to become clinically stable [1].
I-TECH Tanzania led the development of the task-sharing policy guidelines for Health Sector Services approved in 2016 as well as the policy’s operational plan. While task-sharing is a widely known HIV service delivery efficiency strategy, still there is continues gaps between national strategies and actual implementation at the site-level [1,2].
Representatives from the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) attended the fourth international African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) conference in Abuja, Nigeria, on 10-13 December 2018.
The theme this year focused on the role of laboratories in preventing and controlling the next pandemic. I-TECH had seven abstracts accepted at the conference that highlighted the laboratory systems strengthening work done by I-TECH in Cambodia, Côte d’Ivoire, and Zambia. The full abstracts presented by I-TECH can be found in the ASLM 2018 Conference Abstracts Conference Book.
Below is a summary of I-TECH presentations:
I-TECH Laboratory Systems Strengthening Team at ASLM 2018. Pictured (L to R): Sitting – Lucy Perrone, Felicity Golopang, Larissa Koffi; Standing – Sylvestre Kone, Nayah Ndefru, Siew Kim Ong.
Oral Abstracts
Siew Kim Ong, I-TECH Cambodia Project Coordinator, was lead author and presenter for the “Improved Laboratory Compliance to Quality Standards in Cambodian Laboratories through On-site Trainings.” This abstract reviewed the effect of training in 12 I-TECH-mentored laboratories in Cambodia on laboratory processes (Page 27).
Poster Sessions
Nayah Ndefru, I-TECH Seattle Laboratory Strengthening Specialist, presented an abstract titled, “Effectiveness of Using a Mixed Approach of On-site Mentoring and Tele-mentoring for Improving Laboratory Quality Management Systems: Lessons From Cambodia.” The presentation looked at the lessons learned in the implementation of a Quality Management System (QMS) in 12 national hospital laboratories throughout Cambodia and the 2018 pilot approach to addressing the QMS gaps identified in an earlier baseline survey (Page 55).
Larissa Koffi, I-TECH Côte d’Ivoire RTCQI Specialist, presented two posters: One titled, “Analysis of EQA HIV Serology Data in Côte d’Ivoire Reveals Gaps in Quality Testing.” The second poster was “Analysis of HIV Point of Care Testing Sites in Côte d’Ivoire Reveals Gaps in Tester Competence.” The posters displayed the results of a retrospective study that can inform strategies and interventions for improved quality at HIV testing sites (Page 200).
Sylvestre Kone, I-TECH Côte d’Ivoire Laboratory Quality Specialist, presented a poster titled “Improving Quality and Capacity of the Laboratory System in Côte d’Ivoire.” The poster detailed the work the team is doing to train and mentor laboratory staff in hospital laboratories towards achieving international quality standards (Page 242).
Felicity Gopolang, I-TECH Laboratory Mentor Consultant, presented a poster titled, “Implementation of a Professional Development Program in Laboratory Leadership and Quality Management in Zambia from 2016-2018.” The poster outlined the impact of the Program on quality improvement (Page 206).
Pat Sadate-Ngatchou, I-TECH Seattle Senior Laboratory Advisor, was lead author on the poster titled “Improvement of Quality Practices within HIV Point-of-Care testing (POCT) Sites in Côte d’Ivoire Through Implementation of the Rapid Test Continuous Quality Improvement (RTCQI),” which explored the impact of the implementation of RTCQI in POCT site audits (Page 246).
About ASLM The mission of ASLM is to improve clinical and public health outcomes in Africa by enhancing professional laboratory practice, science and networks. Based on five strategic pillars, ASLM serves the community of laboratory professionals and promotes the value of strong medical laboratories to key stakeholders such as the Ministries of Health, research laboratories, and universities. ASLM is an independent, non-profit organization endorsed by the African Union and headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The I-TECH Certificate Program in Laboratory Leadership and Management (CPLLM) was a nine-month course that trained laboratory staff in supervisory positions leadership and management skills to make substantive and impactful improvements in laboratory testing quality and operations. The program was developed in 2013 and first piloted in 2014.
Casey-Iiams Hauser, Senior Informatics Implementation Specialist, presents on laboratory information systems at the Global Digital Health Forum in Washington, D.C.
The Fifth Annual Global Digital Health Forum was held from 10-11 December in Washington, D.C., attracting more than 300 participants to the FHI 360 Conference Center. At the forum, representatives from the new Digital Initiatives Group at I-TECH (DIGI) and its partner in Haiti, CHARESS, shared knowledge and lessons learned from 15 years of experience implementing digital health solutions worldwide.
The theme for this year’s forum was “A Shared Language for Digital Health,” and built on a foundation of the World Health Organization’s Classification of Digital Health Interventions.
“I welcome the messages from donors funding digital health work that they are shepherding a new era through the Digital Investment Principles,” said Joanna Diallo, DIGI Managing Director. “The conference provided DIGI an opportunity to present our contributions to global goods like OpenELIS, OpenMRS, and OpenHIE.”
Diallo moderated a panel titled “Different Labs Need Different Systems: An Exploration of Open Source Laboratory Information Systems Use in Global Health and the Community of Practice that Brings Them Together.” Jan Flowers, DIGI Faculty Co-Lead and Director of Global Health Informatics at the University of Washington Clinical Informatics Research Group, and Casey Iiams-Hauser, Senior Informatics Implementation Specialist with DIGI, were panelists, along with Steven Wanyee of IntelliSOFT, a former member of the I-TECH Kenya team.
The panel highlighted LIS as a critical component of national health information systems (HIS) architecture, exploring a complementary suite of open source LIS that are implemented across low- and middle-income countries, describing the laboratories and use cases each serves.
“The forum is a fantastic opportunity to meet with funders, on-the-ground implementers and technologists to discuss our work and learn about new initiatives and technologies,” said Iiams-Hauser. “We can leverage this knowledge for success both in our existing health information projects and in future partnerships.”
CHARESS HIS Lead Nathaelf Hyppolite participated in a session highlighting the development, implementation, and transition of EMR in developing countries, drawing on I-TECH and CHARESS’s work in Haiti. Participants heard about the benefits of an interoperable EMR: a unified data format, the ability to back up data, and that same data can be used to generate reports via DHIS2 from both the cloud servers and hardware EMR system. Hyppolite also shared the advantages and limitations of transitioning to an OpenMRS and OpenHIE platform, which bring experts together to share knowledge, standards, and best practices, as well as collaborate on technologies.
This focus on community and communication was noted by Diallo and the other participants. “DIGI really appreciated the opportunity to learn more about new standards and technologies, how to best approach digital health governance work, and how a shared language will help us collaborate and work together to ultimately improve health outcomes,” said Diallo.
Dr. Batsi Makunike (L), I-TECH ZImbabwe Country Director, presents Dr. Ann Downer, I-TECH Executive Director and former PI of the Zimbabwe Care and Treatment project, with a farewell gift. The batik was made by using sadza porridge to apply the dye to the fabric.
Last Saturday, 1 December 2018, marked the 30th World AIDS Day, with a focus on urging all people to know their HIV status, as well as on ensuring access to prevention, care, and treatment services for those affected by the disease. Two programs at the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH) are working in concert with local partners to help make those goals a reality in Zimbabwe.
A center in the University of Washington (UW) Department of Global Health, I-TECH has worked in Zimbabwe since 2003, starting with a $150,000 grant for an assessment of the need for HIV training in the country. Since then, work in the country has expanded to two awards totaling more than $24 million for the current year—one of which focuses on HIV testing, care, and treatment and the other on voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) for HIV prevention. Both projects are funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and operate through consortia comprising I-TECH and local partners.
The consortium for the VMMC award, ZAZIC, will continue to be led by Dr. Scott Barnhart, Professor in the UW Department of Global Health and School of Medicine. However, the consortium for the care and treatment award, the Zimbabwe Partnership to Accelerate AIDS Control (ZimPAAC), has undergone a change in leadership: its new Principal Investigator (PI) is Dr. Stefan Wiktor, Professor in the UW Department of Global Health. Dr. Wiktor was handed the baton by the project’s previous Principal Investigator, Dr. Ann Downer, I-TECH Executive Director and also a Professor in the department, during a ceremony in Harare in October 2018.
“We are all so grateful to Dr. Downer for the past five years; for gently, but firmly leading us through the transition from a training and mentoring grant to a high-impact service delivery grant in five provinces,” said Dr. Batsi Makunike, I-TECH Zimbabwe Country Director. “Looking ahead, we welcome Dr. Wiktor to our team and the opportunity to tap into the wealth of experience that he brings as our new PI.”
Dr. Wiktor expressed hope that, through the continued hard work of the Zimbabwe consortium, the country will achieve its national and global targets. “Zimbabwe is one of the countries in Africa closest to reaching the UNAIDS 95-95-95 targets, and ZimPAAC is a critical partner to the Ministry of Health in that effort,” said Dr. Wiktor. “I am delighted to be working with such an outstanding team of public health professionals.”
Through ZimPAAC, I-TECH provides direct service delivery and site support for care and treatment at 372 public sector health facilities to strengthen health systems and improve the quality of care and treatment services and increase enrollment, initiation and adherence.
The VMMC project has already performed 313,267 VMMCs, as of October 2018, surpassing PEPFAR targets. The new award aims to circumcise 500,000 men over five years, resulting in the prevention of approximately 100,000 new cases of HIV.
“It has been such a privilege to work in Zimbabwe, a country that has a real chance to control the AIDS epidemic—both because of generous funding from PEPFAR and, more importantly, because of the caliber of the Zimbabwean people who live and work here,” said Dr. Downer at the handover ceremony.
“Our Zimbabwe team, consisting of both Harare- and Seattle-based members, is one of the finest I’ve ever worked with,” she continued. “Dr. Wiktor inherits a highly productive consortium that is partnering with ZAZIC and the Ministry of Health to propel Zimbabwe toward a healthier future and an AIDS-free generation.”
Samantha Dolan, a Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor with the Kenya team at the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH), has received the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Explorations award. Along with I-TECH Kenya’s Ian Njeru and I-TECH PI Peter Rabinowitz, professor in the Department of Global Health, Dolan has been awarded $100,000 to conduct a project over the next 18 months to improve digital data collection and monitoring of childhood immunizations at Kenyan health facilities.
Read more about Dolan and her project on the UW Department of Global Health website–and congratulations from the I-TECH family!
