Laboratories, including public health laboratories, are an essential and fundamental part of all health systems and their goal is to improve health. Reliable and timely results from laboratory investigations are crucial elements in decision-making in almost all aspects of health services. Within the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), although progress has been made in strengthening laboratory capacity to support certain disease-specific programmes, substantial challenges remain. These include the lack of national policies and strategies for laboratory services, insufficient funding, inadequately trained laboratory staff, weak laboratory infrastructure, old or inadequately serviced equipment, lack of essential reagents and consumables, and limited quality assurance and control protocols. To address these challenges a comprehensive national laboratory policy is needed for EMR countries.
展开▼
