ASCP's outreach programs for laboratory professionals in Africa have expanded to include curriculum review, laboratory management training, and phlebotomy training, in addition to basic training modules in chemistry, hematology and CD4 testing.

Funding for the outreach programs comes from the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention through a cooperative agreement the Society has with CDC. The agreement calls for ASCP to support laboratory training and quality improvement for diagnosis and laboratory monitoring of HIV/AIDS patients in resource-limited countries that are part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

In Tanzania, ASCP representatives Marian Cavagnaro, MS, MT(ASCP)DLM and Michele L. Best, MT(ASCP) met with representatives from CDC-Tanzania, Ministry of Health-Tanzania, AMREF and in-country implementing partners in July to review the newly developed facility-level laboratory management modules. The materials will be reviewed and modified based on country-specific needs.

Modules include Leadership Concepts, Overview of Quality Systems, Personnel Management, Equipment and Supply Chain Management, Document Control and Record Management, Internal and External Assessments and Customer Service, Information Management and Financial Management of the Laboratory.

Then in August in Tanzania, ASCP representatives Wendy Arneson, MS, MT(ASCP), Linda Fell, MS, MT(ASCP)SH, JoAnn Fenn, MS MT(ASCP), Candace Golightly, MS, MLT(ASCP), and Vicki Freeman, PhD, MT(ASCP)SC began working with university faculty to improve curriculum programs. The purpose of the pre-service meeting was to suggest and collaborate on developing psychomotor, cognitive and affective exercises; expanded lecture notes; specific goals and aims and appropriate learning objectives; in-service/clinical rotation checklists; and exams and assessment tools. The ASCP team performed a gap analysis in March with the same group of faculty and school principals. Kathleen Finnegan, MS, MT(ASCP)SH and Tiffany E. Channer, MT(ASCP), provided phlebotomy training August 1-3 and 6-8 in Swaziland. Also in Swaziland this summer, Anna Murphy, MT(ASCP)CM, represented ASCP in a technical assistance partnership with the Department of Defense to develop the Swaziland Defense Forces laboratory and prepare it for operation.

ASCP's core training programs for laboratory professionals continued in July in Maseru, Lesotho, with training workshops in CD4, hematology and chemisty. Trainers were Cindy Johns, MSA, MT(ASCP) and Thomas S. Alexander, PhD, D(ABMLI) in CD4; Perthena Latchaw, MS, MT(ASCP) and Sherrie Hyder, MT(ASCP) in chemistry; and Amy McGranahan MT(ASCP)SH and Karen A. Brown, MS, MT(ASCP) in hematology. Forty laboratory professionals were expected to participate. Meanwhile, ASCP representatives Barbara McKinney, MD, MPH, FASCP and Theresa M. Somrak, JD, CT(ASCP) participated in a one-week consensus conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in July. The purpose of the conference was to prioritize and harmonize future projects with implementing partners, discuss laboratory accreditation and clinical laboratory technical assistance, and plan future trainings.