The draft policy of the Gambia National Health Laboratory was recently validated at a one-day consultative stakeholders' workshop held at the Baobab Holiday Resort in Bijilo.

The policy was prepared, as part of the development agenda of the Department of State for Health with technical assistance from WHO/AFRO. It is the pioneer policy document for laboratory services in the Gambia.

Sainey B Suso, deputy permanent secretary, DoSH, in his opening statement on behalf of the SoS for Health, said that laboratories play a central role in all aspects of disease control and preventive programmes by providing timely and accurate information for use in patient management and disease surveillance.

DPS Suso outlined that in Africa, inadequate staffing, equipment and supplies are the leading issues that characterize the situation of laboratory services.
"These are obstacles to early detection of major epidemics," he said. At its 48th session, he continued, the WHO Regional Committee for Africa passed a resolution urging member states to evaluate the laboratory component of disease control programme as a first step towards strengthening disease surveillance.

Since the resolution was passed, the WHO/AFRO has embarked on a number of capacity building activities, including the introduction of quality assurance programmes for laboratories within the Africa region.

Mr Momodou Gassama, who represented the WHO country representative, said that laboratories play pivotal roles in the health services. According to him, it was at the 40th session of the WHO regional committee that a constitution for disease control was passed. Other speakers included Nellie Lloyd-Evans, the principal laboratory scientist at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital.