RESAOLAB phase 2: 2013-2017
In 2013, four other West African countries joined the network: Benin, Guinea, Niger and Togo.
During this second phase, RESAOLAB’s regional foothold made it possible to support other public health initiatives in medical biology in West Africa. These national or inter-country projects have seen sustainable progress in various areas (laboratory mapping, epidemiological monitoring data reporting system, etc.). From 2015, representatives from 8 other West African countries were asked to participate in the network’s workshops and annual meetings, through the WARDS ((West Africa Regional Disease Surveillance) project financed by the World Bank, via the WAHO)), thus bringing together representatives of 15 countries within the ECOWAS. These meetings gave rise to joint strategies and brought responses to the main challenges in this region.
In addition to the AFD, other partners supported this phase of the project: Monaco’s Department of International Cooperation, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation and the Islamic Development Bank
Achievements
RESAOLAB phase 1 and phase 2 saw the rolling out of large-scale continuing education schemes, the construction and outfitting of training and quality assurance laboratories, implementation of epidemiological monitoring systems and the setting up of an intercountry network.
- 1,000+ public and private laboratories which are overseen and included in the network in the seven countries
- 14 continuing education modules, developed jointly with the country experts as part of an improvement program
- 1,000+ trained in the 14 modules over 100 sessions
- 20 continuing education centers built or renovated
- 4 laboratory directorates built/extended and equipped
- 100+ scholarships granted for medical biology training (biological and applied medical sciences, master’s and specialist diploma)
- 16 external quality assessment sessions held
- 200+ laboratories in the sub-region have an external quality control program