In November 2009, AMREF in Uganda’s Laboratory Services Support (LSSP) Project Manager, Charles Munafu, was awarded the Uganda Medical Laboratory Technology Association’s Award for his outstanding contribution to the development of the medical lab profession in Uganda. The association was celebrating its 40th anniversary.
The honorary award was presented by the Minister of State Local Government, Honourable Ahabwe Godfrey at the Kabale Stadium in Western Uganda.
“This award represents the experience gained and the experience shared by AMREF in Uganda,” said Charles who has worked at AMREF for the last 25 years.
The Uganda Medical laboratory technology association (UMLTA) brings together professionals providing health lab services in public, not for profit, research, private practice and educational realms. UMLTA was formed by the professionals’ health industry to advocate for support from governments and development health partners to improve the medical technology in Uganda.
In 1981, AMREF established a firm relationship with the association. Having had a regional quality assurance scheme that monitored performance with an intention of improving the quality of laboratory results at all levels of health services; AMREF worked closely with members of the association to conduct a malaria research in the East African region.
The relationship was further cemented in 1990 when AMREF was invited by the Ministry of Health in Uganda to develop the health lab policy. The document presented by AMREF to the ministry is the basis of the current health lab policy following a review of the document in 2009. It was inaugurated in April 2009.
In 2004, a national lab services survey carried out by the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and the Ministry of Health found that out of 10 million people, only 2 million had access to laboratory services and HIV testing. The causes for this ranged from lack of infrastructure, human resources and central representation within the Ministry of Health. At the time, AMREF was implementing lab services within the country and in recognition of this, CDC partnered with AMREF investing $3.5 million to improve the lab services in support of HIV/AIDS diagnosis, care and management in Uganda.
Five years later, AMREF has standardised the infrastructure designs and equipment specifications for the different levels of lab services from health centre III’s to regional hospitals. Currently, the Ministry of Health has adopted these designs and approaches. AMREF has also rehabilitated 21 laboratories in health centre IV’s and district hospitals across the country and trained over 700 staff, increasing the availability of lab professionals across the country.
According to Charles, attention should now be shifted to the formative areas of health services. “We should strive to improve health at the point of care and target community participation in diagnostics.
