LABS FOR LIFE (L4L) PROJECT

Labs for Life is a partnership initiative between MoHFW& the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with the objectives ofimprovingquality of laboratory services and buildingsustainable laboratory systems within the public health sector. The project is being implemented through Christian Medical Association of India (CMAI).

The project is being implemented in two phases.

PROJECT PHASE I

Phase I is demonstrative in its large objective. It was launched on 4th December 2014 in 20 selected facilities (10 each in tertiary and secondary care) in 10 districts across the 6 States in 5 regions.

Specific objectives of the Phase 1 are to:

• Enhance capacity for diagnosis of communicable and non-communicable diseases in India
• Improve the quality of services of the 20 identified labs, from the baseline assessment, by at least two additional stars/grades/levels as measured by the checklist
• Strengthen specimen referral mechanisms and linkages between various levels of facilities,
• Ensure sustainability of interventions through local, state-level and country ownership

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(While phase I is still continuing and will be over in nearly one year, simultaneously phase II has been initiated.)

Project Phase II

• Phase II of the project has been envisaged to strengthen public health laboratories in institutions housing ART Centers. This is to ensure that the laboratory support for HIV patients, as prescribed in the NACO operational guidelines, is easily available at the point of care and is demonstrated to meet internationalstandards of laboratory services. To that end, learning from Phase I, in terms of project layout as well as the specific strategies for establishing quality management systems in clinical laboratories would be implemented in the Phase II.
• This phase has been launched in 22 selected ART center-Hospitals across 6 districts in two states – Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh

The specific objectives of Phase II are to:

• Bridge the gaps in supporting investigations required as per NACO Operational guidelines for ART Services and Free Diagnostics Service Initiative
• Establish Quality Management Systems in selected co-located district level laboratories with ART facility;
• Establish linkages between ART Centers and the public health laboratories;
• Develop mechanisms for detecting Opportunistic Infections (OIs)

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This page will be periodically updated. Any suggestions or comments are welcome on labsforlife[dot]mohfw[at]gmail[dot]com