ASCP Center for Global Health Update for July 2019

ASCP Laboratory Medicine Course in Sierra Leone and Liberia

Below are highlights of the past month’s achievements. If you have any questions, please contact Dan A. Milner, Jr., MD, MSc(Epi), FASCP, ASCP Chief Medical Officer, dan.milner@ascp.org. 

Updates

An initiative that began last year to train laboratory technologist supervisors from rural and town settings across Sierra Leone and Liberia has come to fruition. A team of three ASCP members – Quentin Eichbaum, MD, PhD, FASCP, Charles Stratton, MD, from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Roa Harb, MD, FASCP, from the National Institutes of Health – presented the training over a one-week period at Koidu Government Hospital in the Kono district. The faculty delivered lectures and case presentations in the mornings, followed by laboratory test trouble shooting sessions each afternoon.

Last year, Dr. Eichbaum, Education Committee co-chair for the ASCP Partners for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment in Africa initiative, visited several hospitals and pathology labs in Sierra Leone and Liberia, including facilities run by Partners in Health, a Boston-based nongovernmental organization. Following discussions with physicians and laboratory supervisors in these countries, Dr. Eichbaum, in consultation with ASCP Chief Medical Officer Dan Milner, MD, MSc(Epi), FASCP, developed laboratory training courses for laboratory medicine specialists and supervisors at health facilities in Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Separate courses were initially planned in Sierra Leone and Liberia, but political demonstrations in Liberia compelled the team to shift the operation to the Kono district in west Sierra Leone and have the Liberia team travel to the site. This change to a single training site, rather than two, also allowed for a longer course in three areas of laboratory medicine: microbiology, chemistry and blood transfusion.

At the end of the course, participants were awarded an ASCP certificate of attendance. The course received high praise from participants. Attendees also received copies of all lectures and training materials, as well as follow-up distance learning, telemedicine calls. Periodic conferences calls have already been developed to sustain the on-site training.

Volunteers

• Mount Sinai Hospital, in cooperation with Pathologists Overseas/ASCP, is currently recruiting volunteer histotechnologists to visit Liberia and assist with early stage epidemiological and diagnostic programs of training and service.
• The Partners for Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment in Africa project is looking for foreign language speakers in Spanish, Burmese, Georgian, and Portuguese, as well as members with experience in lab design and implementation to serve on the advisory committee for City Cancer Challenge.
• Opportunities are also emerging for ASCP members to lead country teams and assist with critical functions such as case assignment and team communications. New teams are forming for Uganda, eSwatini, and Ghana!  If this is of interest, please contact ASCP Chief Medical Officer Dan A. Milner, Jr., MD, MSc(Epi), FASCP, at dan.milner@ascp.org.