The National Health Department, in partnership with the Charles Mérieux Center for Infectious Disease of Mali in Bamako, the NGO Santé Sud and the Association des Médecins de Campagne (Country Doctors’ Association), organized a workshop to present the final evaluation of the LABOMEDCAMP (LABOratoire MEDical de CAMPagne, Country medical laboratory) project, 15-16 May.
This project, launched in 2011, aims to improve the quality of infectious disease diagnosis by installing medical analysis laboratories in first-line community health centers (CSCom) in Mali.
The workshop presented the final evaluation results of the installation of 10 first-line laboratories in community health centers in rural settings, supported by the Department of International Cooperation of the Principality of Monaco. The workshop brought together for the first time all of the project’s stakeholders: local authorities (mayors, presidents of community associations), community health center clinicians and laboratory technicians, centers of reference in addition to representatives of regional health departments, including the Department of Pharmacy and Medicine. Participants included representatives of the Department of International Cooperation of the Principality of Monaco, notably Anne Poyard-Vatrican, Deputy Director, and Dr. Patrick Brunet, who initiated the project at the NGO Santé Sud.
After a presentation of the final evaluation results of the LABOMEDCAMP project, the workshop participants discussed a long-term development plan and made recommendations for including the new laboratories in the national laboratory network.
“The Ministry of Health wants to provide quality care in all community health centers, in particular through their medicalization and the scale-up of their medical biology laboratories”, stated Dr. Bouréïima Pléa, Ministry representative. He went on to stress the decisive role the workshop would have for integrating the new labs in the national laboratory network.
During the conclusion, partners and participants agreed on the project’s success and future promise to help populations perform biological diagnostics that are reliable and rapid.