Establishing diagnostic training programs in resource-poor settings: The case of Sierra Leone

The West Africa Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic in 2014–2016 resulted in at least 28 652 total cases (15 261 laboratory confirmed), of which at least 11 325 were fatal (case fatality rate ~40%).1 During the epidemic, most of the cases were concentrated in Liberia, Guinea, and Sierra Leone, with some cases exported to the United States, Nigeria, Mali, and other countries around the world. Cases of EVD began appearing in Sierra Leone in May 2014. MRIGlobal first deployed to Sierra Leone in January 2015 and has maintained a presence in the country ever since, resulting in numerous deployments for diagnostics, engineering and, now, training teams MRIGlobal provided assistance to the government of Sierra Leone and international partners to implement diagnostic testing, training courses, and other outbreak-related activities. MRIGlobal supported the national and district EVD surveillance databases and provided data for EVD surveillance, contact tracing, case investigation, et cetera. It trained staff and offered support to members of the National Rapid Response Team at the Sierra Leone Central Public Health Reference Laboratory (CPHRL). It established, managed, and staffed EVD testing laboratories in both Sierra Leone and Guinea Initially, the mobile laboratory was in Moyamba, Sierra Leone, but in April 2015 it moved to Lakka in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on the same grounds as the CPHRL. ...