Clinical laboratories in low and middle income countries need fundamental improvement because quality laboratory services are essential for the decision making capacity of clinicians, health workers and public health authorities. Strengthening laboratory services and systems is essential for universal access to high quality laboratory diagnostic services. One of the best methods of laboratory strengthening is to implement a quality management system that complies with the requirements of the international quality standard, ISO 15189. 

To this end, a tiered accreditation scheme Stepwise Laboratory Improvement Process Towards Accreditation (SLIPTA) was developed by WHO Regional Office for Africa, Centres for Disease Control (CDC) and others for clinical laboratories in low and middle income countries. One to five stars are accredited to laboratories based on the level of compliance with a checklist. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality and applicability of this accreditation scheme compared with international quality standards. 

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Strengthening public health laboratories in the WHO African Region: A critical need for disease control

WHO Guide for the Stepwise Laboratory Improvement Process Towards Accreditation in the African Region (with checklist) (pdf 1.37Mb)