Development of national laboratory strategies and plans
Reliable and timely laboratory investigation results are fundamental elements of decision-making in almost all aspects of health services, and so directly affect the health and well-being of individuals and countries. Reliable and timely laboratory services are also crucial to a nation’s health security and economy, and to its ability to meet obligations such as the International Health Regulations (2005).
Reflecting this importance, the global vision of WHO and technical partners from the 2008 Joint WHO–United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Conference on Health Laboratory Quality Systems is to base laboratory strengthening on the implementation of national laboratory quality standards.
Implementation of these standards requires trained staff, appropriate infrastructure, equipment, reagents and consumables. As agreed in the 2008 Maputo Declaration on Strengthening of Laboratory Systems, all of these components should be provided and coordinated by the national authority, and informed and driven by national policies and strategies for health laboratory services.
In recent years, investments in laboratory services in many low- and middle-income countries have primarily been in programmes targeting single diseases – such as HIV, poliomyelitis or measles – rather than those aimed at benefiting the laboratory system as a whole. In addition, relatively little attention has been paid to national coordination and oversight. Consequently, laboratory policies and strategies often remain undeveloped at the national level.
For these reasons, WHO/Europe’s Better Labs for Better Health initiative supports Member States’ national laboratory working groups in first developing a national laboratory policy (NLP), and subsequently developing a national strategic plan (NSP) and operational plans based on the NLP.
WHO/Europe developed a standardized methodology for the formulation of NLPs and NSPs. This methodology is implemented in the WHO European Region and currently being rolled out by other WHO regional offices.
