Laboratory network on infectious diseases

Details: As part of the Episouth project, a regional Laboratory Network is being established with selected laboratories to support the priority diagnostic needs and to facilitate the interaction with public health institutions and officials based on national reference laboratories, and the Institut Pasteur Network. Its objective is to facilitate common threats detection based on available resources in Mediterranean and South East Europe by mapping them, assessing their diagnostic and confirmation capacity, facilitating rapid access to laboratory facilities, interacting with public health institutions and officials based at the national reference laboratories in the participating countries.
The programme provides assistance across the following areas:
- Identify priority areas of action (pathogens and corresponding diseases);
- Organise experts meeting to identify criteria for selection of the regional laboratories and make links with the existing Networks of laboratories;
- Identify the laboratories corresponding to the identified criteria, and interested in contributing to the EpiSouth initiative;
- Identify the needs of laboratories in terms of diagnostic capacity for priority diseases in the region: human, technical and organizational;
- Develop a comprehensive training program for capacity building and implement training activities in this framework;
- Explore the possibility of a sharing process of laboratory samples and reagents.
The Institut Pasteur is a non-profit private Foundation. For 120 years, it has been contributing to the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases through research, teaching and public health initiatives. It also has an international network which currently counts 32 members spread over the five continents.
The EpiSouth Network was established among countries of South-East Europe, North Africa and Middle-East to create a framework of collaboration on epidemiological issues for enhancing communicable diseases surveillance.