This assessment, covering nine technical laboratory areas, identified the strengths, weaknesses and challenges to be overcome in order to set up a solid, functional laboratory network based on the One Health approach. Key recommendations included the development of regulatory texts for key One Health areas, the revision of national strategies and plans to include animal and environmental health laboratories, the operationalization of the national network and the formalization of the National One Health Committee to monitor and coordinate collaboration between the three sectors of this approach.
The evaluation was made possible thanks to the mobilization of international and national evaluators alongside national experts from Congo’s human, animal and environmental health laboratory services. It was carried out as part of the REDISSE IV project, supported by ECCAS and the World Bank, and benefited from the technical expertise of the Mérieux Foundation, in particular its methodological expertise in laboratory systems and networking.
The assessment focused on the nine areas identified by the Labnet Scorecard assessment tool, including the quality of laboratory services, biosafety and biosecurity, and priority diseases. It also provided an opportunity to visit laboratories such as the Laboratoire National de Santé Publique (LNSP), the Centre de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses Christophe Mérieux and the nation reference laboratory for Mycobacteria.
These results will now enable the project to work on the priority actions to be put in place to build the One Health laboratory system in CAR