ASCP awarded five-year cooperative agreement in second phase of international AIDS fight
CHICAGO, Sept. 24, 2008 – The American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) this month was awarded $3.9 million for the first year of its second five-year initiative with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The program, “CDC Supporting Laboratory Training and Quality Improvement for Diagnosis and Laboratory Monitoring of HIV/AIDS Patients in Resource-Limited Countries,” is implemented under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The goals of PEPFAR, which began five years ago, include support for treatment for 2 million HIV infected people, support for prevention of 7 million new infections, and support for care for 10 million people infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. (www.PEPFAR.org)
“This award from the CDC further confirms the value that CDC has realized from ASCP and its volunteers and the tremendous potential that ASCP has to be an effective partner for improving global health,” said ASCP President Lee H. Hilborne, MD, MPH, FASCP, DLM(ASCP)CM. “The laboratory training packages that ASCP has implemented in resource-limited countries have helped track, monitor and provide quality services for patients effected by HIV/AIDS.”
John Nkengasong, chief of the CDC International Branch, echoes Hilborne’s outlook: “The ideal goal working with ASCP is to provide sustainability of laboratory programs – to make sure the labs in PEPFAR countries can begin to do for themselves,” he said. “ASCP has been a wonderfully dedicated and committed partner in its support of the PEPFAR program. I am very happy they are on board.”
The PEPFAR II funding will allow ASCP volunteers to continue to provide diagnostic and quality assurance laboratory training as well as technical assistance in the review and revision of clinical laboratory curricula. They will also continue to provide quality systems strengthening and support of phased-in approaches to accreditation.
ASCP volunteers will provide these services in Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, Lesotho, Côte d'Ivoire, Guyana, Haiti, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, Swaziland, and Tanzania.
Last year, the ASCP received $2.8 million in funding. According to its proposal, the CDC’s continued interest in the ASCP’s international HIV/AIDS programming is a result of the Chicago-based association’s successful development and implementation of training programs in 12 of 15 PEPFAR countries. Additionally, ASCP has the largest U.S.-based membership of laboratory professionals and pathologists. Consequently, the CDC reached out again in July, requesting that ASCP apply for the PEPFAR II program.
Since 2004, ASCP has trained over 1,400 laboratorians in laboratory management, phlebotomy, hematology, chemistry and CD4 testing to monitor HIV/AIDS patients in PEPFAR countries.
Click here to learn more about the ASCP’s PEPFAR-related efforts. Also see the ASCP’s humanitarian-themed publication Critical Values. To read more about the PEPFAR initiative, click here.