Veterinary diagnostic laboratories in developing countries: the challenge of credibility

Abstract

The problems facing veterinary diagnostic laboratories in developing countries range from simple problems, such as limited funds to keep good personnel or obtain equipment, supplies, reagents ortraining, to the more complex problems of designing and executing appropriate sample collection schemes for disease surveillance or evaluating the performance characteristics of a new diagnostic assay. While many developing countries are addressing these problems independently and a number of international and national organisations provide various forms of external support, the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) must continue in its critical role to provide guidelines for the most appropriate diagnostic assays for trade purposes and the development of the primary reference reagents for these assays. In addition, the OIE should take the lead in development of quality management guidelines for veterinary diagnostic testing laboratories. Without these guidelines and standards, diagnostic laboratories in developing countries will have difficulty in gaining the credibility necessary to help improve the positions of their countries in the international trade of livestock and livestock commodities.

Veterinary Diagnostic Services for the Future: Nigeria’s Pathway to Progress

“…Aside from the NVRI, there are also other state veterinary diagnostic laboratories in Nigeria, in addition to Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) laboratories in all the nine accredited veterinary colleges. However, most of the state laboratories are in varying states of functionality, while the VTH laboratories have also been recently upgraded by various disease control project funding bodies.Problems facing veterinary diagnostic laboratories in the developing world have been outlined by Robinson and Jeggo [13] and these problems also apply classically to the Nigerian scenario.…”

“…They include but are not limited to: insufficient funding for equipment purchase and maintenance, supplies, reagents or training; designing and specifying proper sample collection methods for disease surveillance and appraising the performance characteristics of novel diagnostic techniques Robinson and Jeggo [13]. In addition to these, in the Nigerian context, it is also important to highlight infrastructural challenges such as lack of basic amenities which hinder diagnostic capabilities of laboratories.…”