醫學新知

Who Essential Diagnostics List released, informed by GAFFI meeting in Kampala

Following the SAGE-IVD meeting in April 2018, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued its first Essential Diagnostics List. The list includes 58 general laboratory tests and 55 specific tests for key infections (e.g. HIV, TB, hepatitis, syphilis, human papilloma virus). For fungal infections, the key diagnostics listed are: cryptococcal antigen; fungal culture of blood and other samples; microscopy of wet preparations or stained samples; antimicrobial susceptibility testing. However, histopathology was not included.
The list was informed in part by the recommendations compiled by a group of 95 fungal infection experts at a GAFFI meeting in Kampala (Uganda), with a focus on low- and middle-income settings. These experts included experienced clinicians, senior laboratory staffs, and public health practitioners representing several Ministries of Health, national reference laboratories, research institutes and international health organizations including WHO, GAFFI, UNITAID, CDC and MSF.