Masanza et al. BMC Public Health 2010, 10(Suppl 1):S8 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2458/10/S1/S8 R E V I E W BMC Public Health Open Access Laboratory capacity building for the International Health Regulations (IHR[2005]) in resource-poor countries: the experience of the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET ) Monica Musenero Masanza*, Ndlovu Nqobile, David Mukanga and Sheba Nakacubo Gitta Abstract Laboratory is one of the core capacities that countries must develop for the implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR[2005]) since laboratory services play a major role in all the key processes of detection, assessment, response, notification, and monitoring of events. While developed countries easily adapt their well- organized routine laboratory services, resource-limited countries need considerable capacity building as many gaps still exist. In this paper, we discuss some of the efforts made by the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) in supporting laboratory capacity development in the Africa region. The efforts range from promoting graduate level training programs to building advanced technical, managerial and leadership skills to in-service short course training for peripheral laboratory staff. A number of specific projects focus on external quality assurance, basic laboratory information systems, strengthening laboratory management towards accreditation, equipment calibration, harmonization of training materials, networking and provision of pre-packaged laboratory kits to support outbreak investigation. Available evidence indicates a positive effect of these efforts on laboratory capacity in the region. However, many opportunities exist, especially to support the roll-out of these projects as well as attending to some additional critical areas such as biosafety and biosecuity. We conclude that AFENET’s approach of strengthening national and sub-national systems provide a model that could be adopted in resource-limited settings such as sub- Saharan Africa. Introduction In today’s interconnected world, the risk of international spread of infectious diseases has greatly increased. This was well illustrated by the rapid spread of the recent inﬂuenza (H1N1) and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemics, where all continents were quickly threatened by an emergent pathogen in one corner of the world. The purpose of International Health Regulations (IHR[2005]) is “to prevent, protect against, control and provide a public health response to the international spread of disease in ways that are commensurate with and restricted to public health risks, and which avoid unnecessary interference with international traﬃc and trade.” [1]. Article 13 (Public Health Response) of the *Correspondence: mmusenero@afenet.net 1African Field Epidemiology Network, Plot 23 Mackenzie Vale. P.O. Box 12874, Kampala IHR(2005) obligates States Parties to develop, strengthen and maintain the capacity to respond promptly and eﬀectively to public health risks and emergencies of international concern as soon as possible but no later than ﬁve years from the entry into force of the regulations [1]. Progress by States Parties toward the attainment of the stated goals is based on eight core capacities, to be implemented by the year 2012. Core capacity 8 of IHR(2005) obligates World Health Organization (WHO) Member States to establish mecha- nisms for providing reliable and timely laboratory identi- ﬁcation and characterization of infectious agents and other hazards likely to cause public health emergencies of national and international concern, including shipment of specimens to the appropriate laboratories if necessary. Laboratory services therefore play a major role in all the key processes of the IHR, including detection, assess- ment, response, notiﬁcation, and monitoring of events. © 2010 Masanza et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.