The emerging threat of pre-extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in West Africa: preparing for large-scale tuberculosis research and drug resistance surveillance.

Background: Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is a global public health problem. Adequate management requires baseline drug-resistance prevalence data. In West Africa, due to a poor laboratory infrastructure and inadequate capacity, such data are scarce.

Proficiency testing for HIV, tuberculosis and malaria diagnosis in clinical laboratories in Nigeria.

Background: Proficiency testing (PT) is a means of verifying the reliability of laboratory results, but such programmes are not readily available to laboratories in developing countries. This project provided PT to laboratories in Nigeria.

Objectives: To assess the proficiency of laboratories in the diagnosis of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

Improving quality in national reference laboratories: The role of SLMTA and mentorship.

Background: The Nigerian Institute of Medical Research houses two reference laboratories: the virology and tuberculosis laboratories. Both were enrolled in the Strengthening Laboratory Management Toward Accreditation (SLMTA) programme.

Objective: To describe the impact of SLMTA and discuss factors affecting the results, with an emphasis on mentorship.