Improving pathology and laboratory medicine in low-income and middle-income countries: roadmap to solutions

Authors

Shahin Sayed, Aga Khan UniversityFollow
William Cherniak, Center for Global Health, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Mark Lawler, Faculty of Medicine, Health, and Life Sciences and Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology, Queens University, Belfast, UK
Soo Yong Tan, Department of Pathology, National University of Singapore, National University Hospital, Singapore
Wafaa El Sadr, ICAP at Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA
Nicholas Wolf, Center for Global Health, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Shannon Silkensen, Center for Global Health, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
Nathan Brand, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
Lai Meng Looi
Sanjay A Pai, Columbia Asia Referral Hospital, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

Document Type

Article

Department

Pathology (East Africa)

Abstract

Abstract:

Insufficient awareness of the centrality of pathology and laboratory medicine (PALM) to a functioning health-care system at policy and governmental level, with the resultant inadequate investment, has meant that efforts to enhance PALM in low-income and middle-income countries have been local, fragmented, and mostly unsustainable. Responding to the four major barriers in PALM service delivery that were identified in the first paper of this Series (workforce, infrastructure, education and training, and quality assurance), this second paper identifies potential solutions that can be applied in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). Increasing and retaining a quality PALM workforce requires access to mentorship and continuing professional development, task sharing, and the development of short-term visitor programmes. Opportunities to enhance the training of pathologists and allied PALM personnel by increasing and improving education provision must be explored and implemented. PALM infrastructure must be strengthened by addressing supply chain barriers, and ensuring laboratory information systems are in place. New technologies, including telepathology and point-of-care testing, can have a substantial role in PALM service delivery, if used appropriately. We emphasise the crucial importance of maintaining PALM quality and posit that all laboratories in LMICs should participate in quality assurance and accreditation programmes. A potential role for public-private partnerships in filling PALM services gaps should also be investigated. Finally, to deliver these solutions and ensure equitable access to essential services in LMICs, we propose a PALM package focused on these countries, integrated within a nationally tiered laboratory system, as part of an overarching national laboratory strategic plan

Comments

This work was published after the author joined Aga Khan University.

Publication (Name of Journal)

The Lancet

Recommended Citation

Sayed, S., Cherniak, W., Lawler, M., Tan, S., Sadr, W., Wolf, N., Silkensen, S., Brand, N., Looi, L., Pai, S. (2018). Improving pathology and laboratory medicine in low-income and middle-income countries: roadmap to solutions. The Lancet, 391(10133), 1939-1952.
Available at: https://ecommons.aku.edu/eastafrica_fhs_mc_pathol/229