Reinforcement of COVID-19 diagnostic capacities in seven countries - RESAOLAB Project

The Mérieux Foundation sprang into action early by helping its partners access laboratory reagents so they could perform COVID-19 diagnostics. AFD has awarded an additional €1.5 million in financing to the "West African Network of Biomedical Analysis" (RESAOLAB+) to reinforce these diagnostic abilities and limit the virus' propagation. It has three components: - Providing laboratories in seven countries with equipment, consumables and reagents to perform diagnostics, patient monitoring, and to ensure the safety of medical personnel with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) - Creating a platform for sharing documentation (response plan, WHO guidelines, etc.) as well as health decision-making councils in the network's countries created by the RESAOLAB project. The focus is thus on reinforcing and standardizing the guidelines to be followed for the laboratory component and structuring the medium-term sector to respond to epidemics - An ex post study of the role of the laboratories' national guidelines in response to the crisis. This enables the collection of different data and best practices concerning the laboratory's involvement and fundamental role in the pandemic, by capitalizing on the countries' experiences.