Project profile — Support for Africa Centres for Disease Control to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing

This project contributes to implementing the Africa Joint Continental Strategy for the COVID-19 outbreak. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) leads this project. Specifically, this project supports the African Society for Laboratory Medicine in implementing the Africa CDC’s “Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing” initiative. Project activities include: (1) procuring and distributing test kits and supplies; (2) assisting national public health laboratories in building the capacity for COVID-19 testing at the sub-national level; and (3) assessing sub-national level laboratories to guide corrective action and improving the quality of COVID-19 testing.

The expected outcomes of this project include: (1) an increased volume of COVID-19 testing and the adequate management of confirmed cases in African Union Member States and (2) expanded COVID-19 testing, and quality assurance capacities to sub-national level laboratories in African Union Member States.

Results achieved as of March 2022 include: (1) enrolled 788 COVID-19 molecular laboratories from 27 countries in an international proficiency testing program; (2) held five training sessions on COVID-19 testing for laboratory professionals. This includes the training of 132 laboratory professionals (41% women) on COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing; (3) supported 24 labs to implement corrective actions to improve quality assurance of testing; and, (4) procured 229,900 COVID-19 SARS-CoV-2 cartridges and Ag RDT tests. These results contributed to strengthening public health measures in Africa to control and prevent the COVID-19 pandemic through an enhanced testing capacity of laboratories in targeted countries.