Ethiopia - Collaboration with the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

Development and piloting of the Laboratory System Maturity Model

Date: October 2024 – December 2025
Location: African Region
Client: The Global Fund

Type of service(s):
Led the development and piloting of the Laboratory Systems Maturity Matrix to assess the functionality and maturity of national laboratory and diagnostic networks at country level.

Report(s): 

[3 Feb 2026] 🔬 Strengthening Laboratory Systems for Health Security & Universal Health Coverage 🌍

Laboratory and diagnostic services are the backbone of effective clinical care and public health surveillance. Yet, the quality and availability of diagnostics depend not only on individual laboratories, but on the strength of the entire laboratory system and network that supports them.

Over 2024–2025, I had the privilege of developing the Laboratory Systems Maturity Monitoring (LMM) tool on behalf ofDATOS, working closely with an exceptional group of technical experts, partners, and stakeholders. The LMM was developed for the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the WHO Regional Office for Africa (WHO-AFRO), with support from theThe Global Fund.

The LMM is a standardized assessment framework, supported by an electronic tool, designed to evaluate the functionality and maturity of national laboratory systems against international standards and normative guidance.

🧩 What makes the LMM unique?
- It takes a holistic, system-level approach, covering governance, financing, workforce, quality management, biosafety, data systems, testing capacity, and more
- It aligns laboratory system strengthening with both Global Health Security (IHR) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC) objectives
- It provides actionable, evidence-based insights to guide strategic investments, prioritize gaps, and strengthen equitable access to diagnostics

Developed through a consensus-based process involving global, regional, and national laboratory stakeholders and piloted in African countries, the LMM builds on lessons from previous tools while responding to today’s evolving health system and funding realities.

🚀 The LMM will be rolled out under the auspices of the World Health Organization, supporting countries to build resilient, integrated, and sustainable laboratory systems fit for both routine care and public health emergencies.

I’m grateful to the many experts and partners who contributed their knowledge and commitment to this work, and proud to have led this effort through DATOS to support stronger, more resilient laboratory systems across the African region and beyond.

------

Laboratory Directors Forum

Date: September - December 2022

Location: Ethiopia, The Netherlands, South Africa

Client: African Society for Laboratory Medicine

Type of services:

Co-facilitated the inaugural face-to-face meeting of National Directors for Laboratory Services in Africa and supported the development of a strategic Call to Action document to guide continental laboratory system strengthening efforts.

Report(s):

[12 Oct 2022] Read the press release.

[14 Oct 2022] The Laboratory Director's Forum  met in Cape Town, South Africa, where 30 national  laboratory directors discussed the challenges their labs face, including supply chain management, waste management, silo funding, diagnostic network optimisation, human resources and more.

------

Laboratory Network Leadership Course

Date: October 2020 - March 2021

Location: Ethiopia, The Netherlands, Zimbabwe, Malawi

Client: African Society for Laboratory Medicine

Type of services:

Developed a training programme for National Laboratory Working Groups to strengthen governance and performance of laboratory networks.

Report(s): 

See the Zimbabwe page and the Malawi page for the first pilot.

------

National Laboratory Quality Framework – Africa CDC

Date: October 2020 - May 2024

Location: Ethiopia, The Netherlands, South Africa

Client: African Society for Laboratory Medicine

Type of services:

Developed guidance to support African countries in establishing National Laboratory Quality Frameworks, including policy and strategic planning components. Developed a comprehensive training programme and facilitator guide to support country-level implementation.

Report(s): 

[12 Nov 2021] Today, Tjeerd Datema gave a presentation introducing the guidance for establishment of a National Laboratory Quality Framework NLQF during a very well attended launch meeting. The NLQF guidance, endorsed by the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM), will be rolled-out in countries under the mandate of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and regional stakeholders. It will definitely impact the advancement of LQMS in African Union Member states.

[31 May 2022] In May 2022 Tjeerd Datema and Linda Oskam were in South Africa for the launch of the NLQF guidance. DATOS assisted the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) with development of this guidance, which helps policy makers to solidify LQMS efforts into national laboratory policy and planning. Tjeerd Datema presented the NLQF guidance to 14 country teams and we facilitated the development of country implementation plans. Moving into the next phase of advancing quality laboratory services in Africa! 

[8 Jun 2022] DATOS contributed to the development of the NLQF guidance and were the lead facilitators of the workshop. We congratulate the 14 country teams assisted by six Directors of Laboratory Services, who have debated and reached consensus to assess their national QMS implementation strategies. The teams developed and presented roadmaps to strengthen their national laboratory quality policies and/or strategic plans using the NLQF guidance.

------

Monitoring and Evaluation of National and Regional Mentors – QWArS Project

Date: February - December 2022

Location: Ethiopia, The Netherlands

Client: African Society for Laboratory Medicine

Type of services:

Developed a monitoring and evaluation framework for QWArS national and regional mentors and conducted structured performance monitoring on behalf of ASLM.

Report(s):

[December 2022] From 2020-2023, the Fleming Fund supported the ASLM-led project “Qualifying the workforce for AMR surveillance in Africa and Asia” (QWArS). The QWArS project trained surveillance and microbiology professionals from 17 countries to become qualified national leaders in their field. The professionals were selected by the countries under the One Health concept, representing human, veterinary and environmental laboratories and services from the public and private sector as well as representatives from universities. The training program consisted of a structured set of courses leading to a qualification examination.

DATOS contributed to the QWArS project by coordinating the development of training materials by the project partners, developing two modules (Management and Leadership and Training of Trainers) and providing an international Training for Training of Trainers for further roll-out of the programme. We were also responsible for the Monitoring and Evaluation of the mentorship component of QWArS.

This nice short movie provides an overview of the project and its achievements. We look forward to contributing to the follow-up of the QWArS project!

------

Fleming Fund - Microbiology & Epidemiology Track Development + Master Trainer Course Delivery - QWArS

Date: June 2020 - June 2022

Location: Ethiopia, Kenya, The Netherlands

Client: African Society for Laboratory Medicine

Type of services:

• Coordinated development of Microbiology and Epidemiology Skilled and Expert training tracks for the QWArS regional programme.

• Developed and delivered a one-week Master Trainer programme for the Fleming Fund Regional QWArS initiative.
  

Report(s): 

-

------

Development of a Training Programme on Management and Leadership for AMR Laboratory Managers

Date: March - April 2021

Location: Ethiopia, The Netherlands

Client: African Society for Laboratory Medicine

Type of services:

Developed a one-week leadership and management training programme tailored to AMR laboratory managers.

Report(s):

-

------

LabNet Scorecard Revision and Digitalization

Date: April - June 2021

Location: Ethiopia, The Netherlands

Client: African Society for Laboratory Medicine

Type of services:

Revised the LabNet scorecard to reflect recent developments. Designed and automated a user-friendly Excel-based version and developed a paper-based tool for broader usability.

Report(s):

-

------

ASLM Fleming Fund Regional Grant Writing and Desk Study

Date: January - March 2020

Location: Ethiopia, The Netherlands

Client: African Society for Laboratory Medicine

Type of services:

Conducted a desk study on participation of African laboratories in AMR EQA schemes. Co-organized a consortium writing workshop and led development of a regional Fleming Fund AMR proposal.

Report(s): 

[17 Mar 2020] Strengthening EQA for AMR testing on the African Continent - The African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM) is leading a consortium for the Fleming Fund regional grant on strengthening External Quality Assessment (#EQA) for Antimicrobial Resistance (#AMR) testing in Africa. The consortium consists of technical partners, including Public Health England, the DTU - Technical University of Denmark, National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in South Africa, and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), with the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (WHO-AFRO) and the FAO together forming the advisory committee.

On 10 and 11 February ASLM, in collaboration with Africa CDC, organized a regional stakeholders meeting on EQA for AMR testing. During the regional meeting, Tjeerd Datema presented results of a desk study, conducted by DATOS, which provided insight in participation and performance of laboratories in EQA programmes for AMR on the African continent.

Valuable input was provided by stakeholders and partners on priorities for strengthening EQA for AMR testing in the region.

[19 Jan 2021] External Quality Assurance (EQA) is integral to reliable laboratory services - We are happy to announce the publication of an article on EQA schemes in Africa, authored by Dr Jane Carter and co-authored by DATOS’ laboratory experts Dorien Faber and Tjeerd Datema. Download and read the article in the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM)'s Lab Culture.

------

ASLM Fleming Fund Regional Grant Writing

Date: November - December 2019

Location: Ethiopia, The Netherlands

Client: African Society for Laboratory Medicine

Type of services:

Supported organization and facilitation of a consortium grant-writing workshop in Addis Ababa and led coordination and drafting of the full regional Fleming Fund AMR proposal.

Report(s):

-

------

Title: Africa CDC One Health Summit

Date: April 2018

Location: Ethiopia

Client: African Society for Laboratory Medicine

Type of services:

Served as technical expert during the Africa CDC One Health Summit, contributing laboratory systems strengthening expertise.

Report(s):

[6 Apr 2018] On 4 and 5 April 2018the newly established Africa CDC held a meeting in the Headquarters of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. During this meeting about 100 experts from all over Africa discussed the current situation with regard to Antimicrobial Resistance in humans, animals, food, water and the environment, so truly under the One Health concept. During the meeting recommendations were formulated based on the Africa CDC framework for AMR objectives for the first year of activities to improve surveillance, mitigating harm, limiting transmission and delay emergence of AMR.

Linda Oskam was one of the co-facilitators on the session on surveillance and gave a presentation on surveillance networks and the use of laboratory assessment tools. This fits perfectly in the DATOS activities in the fields of laboratory (system) improvement and the activities that DATOS carries out for the Fleming Fund. 

Want to know more? Contact us!