Testing in Tanzania
Following on from her trip to Nigeria last month, Viapath’s Lead Scientist in Special Haematology, Dr Yvonne Daniel, again flew out to Africa - this time to help set up a programme to screen 100,000 babies for Sickle Cell Disease (SCD).
Like Nigeria, Tanzania has one of the highest rates of SCD in the world, with an estimated 8,000-11,000 SCD births every year. A hereditary blood disorder, SCD can kill up to 90% of sufferers before they complete childhood unless proper interventions are applied.
Yvonne made this latest 10 day trip to Tanzania as part of a Department for International Development (DfID) initiative to screen 100,000 baby samples for SCD. The participants would be split into three groups; SCD sufferers, Hb S carriers and those where no abnormal haemoglobins are found, the babies will be studied for three years to assess morbidity among the different groups.
The purpose of this trip was to identify the project’s scope and to train the Tanzanian scientists on the new analysers that have just been purchased. However, due to issues with the procurement, the equipment had not yet arrived, so the team are working with DfID to ensure its arrival at the earliest opportunity.
Despite the lack of equipment, the team were able to provide training using older data and spent more time helping to set up protocols and processes. The model for the study is very similar to the one used here in the UK, with newborn screening taking place at one hospital (Temeke) and the confirmations at another (Muhimbili).
Dr Yvonne had this to say about the trip “Although we weren’t able to provide the equipment training we had hoped, we were able to complete a lot of process mapping, risk identification and limitations – including IT.”
“We probably left them with more questions than they had to begin with! But it highlights the amount of consideration you have to give to a project of this size. I am hopeful that DfID will send us back once the screening is underway.”
Dr Yvonne Daniel will be presenting on her recent trips to Nigeria and Tanzania at the IBMS Congress in Birmingham on Tuesday 28 September. Use the link below to visit our IBMS Congress webpage for more information.
