Recommendations for creating a functional public health laboratory network usually highlight the need for: (1) defined communication channels between the various levels of the health system, (2) explicit linkages with relevant Ministry of Health divisions, (3) a structure for coordination of laboratory activities, and (4) collaboration with funding and technical partners [5, 7, 8] . These elements of a laboratory network were evident in our review. For example, Rwanda's laboratory network benefits not only from government ownership and partner commitment but also from the defined structures and communication linkages between levels of the health system and with partners. Responsibility for coordination of laboratory activities through the NRL and TRAC Plus provides a structure for avoiding duplication of resources. The example of the collaboration between the government of Rwanda and its technical and funding partners in creating a functional laboratory network that provides results is one that can be emulated by other countries. Immunity Traits in Pigs: Substantial Genetic Variation and Limited Covariation BACKGROUND: Increasing robustness via improvement of resistance to pathogens is a major selection objective in livestock breeding. As resistance traits are difficult or impossible to measure directly, potential indirect criteria are measures of immune traits (ITs). Our underlying hypothesis is that levels of ITs with no focus on specific pathogens define an individual's immunocompetence and thus predict response to pathogens in general. Since variation in ITs depends on genetic, environmental and probably epigenetic factors, our aim was to estimate the relative importance of genetics. In this report, we present a large genetic survey of innate and adaptive ITs in pig families bred in the same environment. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Fifty four ITs were studied on 443 Large White pigs vaccinated against Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and analyzed by combining a principal component analysis (PCA) and genetic parameter estimation. ITs include specific and non specific antibodies, seric inflammatory proteins, cell subsets by hemogram and flow cytometry, ex vivo production of cytokines (IFNα, TNFα, IL6, IL8, IL12, IFNγ, IL2, IL4, IL10), phagocytosis and lymphocyte proliferation. While six ITs had heritabilities that were weak or not significantly different from zero, 18 and 30 ITs had moderate (0.1<h2≤0.4) or high (h2>0.4) heritability values, respectively. Phenotypic and genetic correlations between ITs were weak except for a few traits that mostly include cell subsets. PCA revealed no cluster of innate or adaptive ITs. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our results demonstrate that variation in many innate and adaptive ITs is genetically controlled in swine, as already reported for a smaller number of traits by other laboratories. A limited redundancy of the traits was also observed confirming the high degree of complementarity between innate and adaptive ITs. Our data provide a genetic framework for choosing ITs to be included as selection criteria in multitrait selection programmes that aim to improve both production and health traits. Increasing robustness by improving resistance/tolerance to pathogens is an important selection objective in most livestock species, particularly in pigs. In the past 30 years, selection for growth, carcass leanness, meat quality and prolificacy, combined with stringent sanitary rules, vaccination and use of antibiotics, has been highly effective in pigs [1] . Since the early 2000's, prophylactic use of antibiotics as growth promoters has been forbidden by European legislation. As a result, the health status of numerous farms has deteriorated, leading to an increase in the therapeutic use of antibiotics. Indeed, animals highly selected for production traits may be more susceptible to pathogens or less able to maintain performance after infection. Deterioration of the global health status may also be due to environmental trends. In this context, including health traits in existing breeding schemes using direct and/or indirect strategies is an emerging trend in pig breeding. Direct strategies target animal resistance/tolerance to specific pathogens but may result in increased susceptibility to other diseases [2, 3] . Alternatively, an indirect and putatively more global approach focuses on immune traits (ITs) providing a measure of immune capacity (i.e. immunocompetence) and hopefully predicting the responses to pathogens in general [4] .