The East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community (ESCA-HC), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other partners on Friday November 18, 2023 graduated 18 Laboratory Officers from public hospitals across the country under the Global Laboratory Leadership Program.

Speaking at BICC during the Certificate Presentation Ceremony, Director of Human Resources Management in the Ministry of Health, Mr. Duff Msukwa commended ESCA-HC and its partners for imparting relevant leadership and management skills to the graduans who were drawn from both human and animal health sectors.

“I am elated to note that the program facilitates the development of knowledge and skills. Malawi is in need of more trained leaders in the laboratory as this country is prone to a number of emergencies and eventualities year in and out such as COVID-19, Cyclone Freddy, Cholera outbreak, Anthrax, Foot and Mouth Disease and others that require leadership and skills to combat and diagnose,” he said.

Mr Msusukwa added that the Ministry of Health recognises the important role that medical laboratory professionals play in the delivery of health care and hence the ministry will ensure a conducive and enabling environment to address the gaps found in the laboratory network.

On his part, Family Health and Infectious Diseases for ESCA-HC Manager, Dr. Andrew Silumesii said the program is a product of a high level meeting of ministers of health from its ninew member states who gather to strategize and implement their resolutions.

“Malawi has been a very active member of ESCA and it has also been a beneficiary of projects that ESCA has implemented including the Southern Africa TB Health Systems Support Project among others. We received funding in the sum of $1.8 million USD from Global Fund to capacitate technical staff in the labs. This is against the backdrop that in as much as our technical staff are competent in their areas, there are still deficiencies that were noted in leadership and management for an effective laboratory system,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the participants, Mr Patrick Kadangwe, commended the program saying it has equipped them with knowledge and skills to detect what gaps and challenges are there in both laboratory and entire health system across human, animal and the environment sectors.

The year long program was funded by Global Fund under the COVID-19 Response Mechanism grant as a deliberate effort to strengthen the leadership and management capacity of laboratory managers in Malawi.

Other partners in the program included World Health Organization (WHO), African Union and Center for Disease Control and Prevention.