Designing and Piloting a Specimen Transport System in Burkina Faso
| Autor: | Aimé Gilles Adjami, Sara A. Mirza, Brice Bicaba, Irene Ngendakumana, Abdoulaye Nikiema, Rebecca Greco Koné, Kameko Nichols, Isaïe Medah, Flavien Aké, Emilie T H Dama, Souleymane Porgho, Zekiba Tarnagda, Assana Cissé |
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| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
Time Factors
Health (social science) Health Toxicology and Mutagenesis 030231 tropical medicine Transport network Transportation Management Monitoring Policy and Law Reference laboratory Article Specimen Handling 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Burkina Faso Global health medicine Humans Postal Service 030212 general & internal medicine Baseline (configuration management) Respiratory Tract Infections Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health Monitoring and evaluation medicine.disease Specimen Quality Epidemiological Monitoring Emergency Medicine Medical emergency Business Performance indicator Safety Research Transport system |
| Zdroj: | Health Secur |
| ISSN: | 2326-5108 2326-5094 |
| DOI: | 10.1089/hs.2019.0068 |
| Popis: | Efficient specimen transport systems are critical for early disease detection and reporting by laboratory networks. In Burkina Faso, centralized reference laboratories receive specimens from multiple surveillance sites for testing, but transport methods vary, resulting in potential delays and risk to specimen quality. The ministry of health and partners, under the Global Health Security Agenda implementation, piloted a specimen transport system for severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) surveillance in 4 Burkina Faso districts. A baseline assessment was conducted of the current specimen transport network structure and key stakeholders. Assessment results and guidelines for processing SARI specimens informed the pilot specimen transport system design and implementation. Monitoring and evaluation performance indicators included: proportion of packages delivered, timeliness, and quality of courier services (missed or damaged packages). Our baseline assessment found that laboratorians routinely carried specimens from the health center to reference laboratories, resulting in time away from laboratory duties and potential specimen delays or loss of quality. The pilot specimen transport system design engaged Sonapost, the national postal service, to transport specimens from SARI sites to the influenza national reference laboratory. From May 2017 to December 2018, the specimen transport system transported 557 packages containing 1,158 SARI specimens; 95% (529/557) were delivered within 24 hours of pick-up and 77% (892/1,158) within 48 hours of collection. No packages were lost. This article highlights lessons learned that may be useful for other countries considering establishment of a specimen transport system to strengthen laboratory system infrastructure in global health security implementation. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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