By Mike Mwaniki in Cape Town, South Africa
A leading multinational healthcare company—Roche—has announced an ambitious plan aimed at expanding access to quality and sustainable diagnostic testing in African countries in the next 10 years.
The Roche Diagnostics (Africa) Executive Vice-President, Dr Allan Pamba yesterday revealed that his company aims at increasing testing solutions for Africa from the current 50 million to 500 million which is a ten-fold increase during the period.
“Our TenX strategic plan is part of our vision for diagnostics in African countries which is anchored within three pillars where we plan to lay a strong foundation for cutting edge innovations as well as advanced technologies to be accessed by patients as well as capacity building for healthworkers…
“We also plan to address policy barriers which might hinder testing within the respective governments in collaboration with other partners,” Dr Pamba added.
Dr Pamba noted: “Currently, for example, in a majority of our countries, the ratio of pathologists stands at one against a population of one million…
“This needs to be urgently addressed through collaboration with our universities to enhance the number of medical students interested in pursuing this sub-speciality as well as those pursuing laboratory courses,”.
The Executive Vice-President was speaking on the sidelines of the ongoing sixth biennial Africa Society for Laboratory Conference (ASLM) Conference in Cape Town which began on Tuesday.
The three-day meeting, which assembles more than 1,200 delegates, is being held at the picturesque Cape Town International Convention Centre.
It was officially opened by South Africa’s Deputy Director General (National department of Health) Dr Anban Pillay who identified laboratory science as holding the key in the transformation of healthcare provision.
The conference—whose theme is: “Shaping laboratory systems and diagnostic services for the 21stcentury: embracing change”– kicked off with discussions and plenary sessions focused on exploring cutting-edge innovations and advanced technologies that are set to revolutionise laboratory medicine, reshape African healthcare and impact the global health landscape.
At the same time, the ASLM Chief executive, Mr Nqobile Ndlovu noted that in the 2021 diagnostic findings, about 47 per cent of the global population had little or no access to diagnostics.
Earlier, Dr Pamba said in the envisioned TenX strategy, his company will work in collaboration with global and local stakeholders by focusing on supporting African governments efforts in building strong and resilient healthcare systems that are particularly community-centred.
“Every country has a different situation and their healthcare systems present unique challenges…
“We shall, therefore, work with partners to develop and deliver tailored access to solutions that reflect each country’s individual needs,” Dr Pamba noted.
At the same time, an official of another pharmaceutical firm, Qiagen Head of Regional Marketing, Ms Jacqueline Karachi urged African countries to foster collaboration with pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies geared towards improving healthcare outcomes for their citizens.
“In this conference, for example, it has emerged that the leadership of ASLM has proven that Africa is endowed with top-notch medical personnel such as pathologists and researchers among others…
“There is need, therefore, for ASLM leadership to foster collaboration with partners such as the World Health Organisation, Africa CDC and Ministries of Health in bid to bolster the region’s laboratory medicine as science is driven forward by innovations,”.
Ms Karachi identified her company as providing solutions in the fields of molecular diagnostics, identification of latent Tuberculosis as well as genomic sequencing.
