Designing and Piloting a Specimen Transport System in Burkina Faso

Abstract

Efficient specimen transport systems are critical for early disease detection and reporting by laboratory networks. In Burkina Faso, centralized reference laboratories receive specimens from multiple surveillance sites for testing, but transport methods vary, resulting in potential delays and risk to specimen quality. The ministry of health and partners, under the Global Health Security Agenda implementation, piloted a specimen transport system for severe acute respiratory illness (SARI) surveillance in 4 Burkina Faso districts. A baseline assessment was conducted of the current specimen transport network structure and key stakeholders. Assessment results and guidelines for processing SARI specimens informed the pilot specimen transport system design and implementation. Monitoring and evaluation performance indicators included: proportion of packages delivered, timeliness, and quality of courier services (missed or damaged packages). Our baseline assessment found that laboratorians routinely carried specimens from the health center to reference laboratories, resulting in time away from laboratory duties and potential specimen delays or loss of quality. The pilot specimen transport system design engaged Sonapost, the national postal service, to transport specimens from SARI sites to the influenza national reference laboratory. From May 2017 to December 2018, the specimen transport system transported 557 packages containing 1,158 SARI specimens; 95% (529/557) were delivered within 24 hours of pickup and 77% (892/1,158) within 48 hours of collection. No packages were lost. This article highlights lessons learned that may be useful for other countries considering establishment of a specimen transport system to strengthen laboratory system infrastructure in global health security implementation.

Primary Health Care System Strengthening Project in Sri Lanka: Status and Challenges with Human Resources, Information Systems, Drugs and Laboratory Services

“…The reagents and consumables have to be supplied in sufficient quantities and in an uninterrupted manner based on previous utilization statistics. There is a need for further research to find better models to improve the efficiency of SCT, so that there is timely availability of investigations and reduced turnaround times for results [ 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 ].…”

Integrating Indian Post and National Tuberculosis Elimination Program - A new way ahead

“…In addition, postal services are used to deliver tuberculosis (TB) and HIV specimens in Uganda and Ethiopia, where the system has built on a public-private partnership, ensuring optimal and fast access to diagnostic services. (9) The states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Telangana launched pilot programs for transporting specimens through Indian post offices. To create an efficient specimen transportation system, this needs to be performed on a larger scale.…”

Lessons Learned in Global Health Security Implementation

“…They note the importance of engaging stakeholders from the design to implementation and encourage development of a monitoring and evaluation framework with feedback integration. 29 Kakaı and colleagues discuss cross-border preparedness and response in Benin, Nigeria, and Togo and focus on common interests in partnering to control cross-border outbreaks. They describe countries' collaborations to respond more successfully to Lassa fever outbreaks, as documented through metrics (eg, identification time of a case) and sharing information with partners.…”