EQASIA

EQAsia

The overall aim of the EQAsia project is to improve the Quality of Bacteriology Diagnostics for Antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AMR) in the Asian region. The EQAsia project is supported by the Fleming Fund (UK Aid Programme).

The project is split into two phases. In the first phase, which was conducted from January 2020 to August 2020, the aim was to map the coverage, availability and uptake of EQA programmes across One Health (OH) sectors in the South- and Southeast Asian region.

The mapping showed a considerable number of providers/programs in the region, which suggests some overlaps. Potential gaps in the content and comprehensiveness of individual programs may also be a contributing factor to why the National Reference Laboratories (NRLs) choose to participate in multiple programs. Based on these observations, the aim of the second phase of the project is to strengthen the provision of EQA services to NRLs/centers of excellence across OH sectors. This phase runs from October 2020 to February 2022.

To strengthen the EQA services, the project will offer a comprehensive EQA program over three rounds in 2021, which will cover all WHO GLASS pathogens. The EQAs will focus on both pathogen identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST).

The EQAs will be supported by training workshops, an IT module that enables instant reports as well as relevant follow up activities to underperforming laboratories.

Read more about the project in the flyer.

EQAsia Flyer

(PDF document)

The consortium

EQAsia comprehends a multidisciplinary consortium of experts gathered to deliver the outputs of the Fleming Regional Grant – DTU (Technical University of Denmark), IVI (International Vaccine Institute), NIH (National Institute of Health, Thailand) and CU (Faculty of Veterinary Science, Chulalongkorn University).

DTU is the consortium coordinator and, therefore, the responsible for the overall management and coordination of the grant. As the lead grantee, DTU is in charge of the contractual agreements between partners, of the interim and exit-meetings, as well as of performing cost analysis of surveillance systems. Regarding EQAs, DTU has to develop the IT module, coordinate strain procurement and select validated EQA candidate strain panels, prepare protocols and provide proficiency testing schemes, and finally, publish the EQA trials. In collaboration with the other partners, DTU has to organize workshops and draft a sustainability plan.

https://www.food.dtu.dk/english

IVI is the regional support for project coordination of activities. One of the IVI’s main responsibilities includes the design, planning and conduct of training and follow up activities, such as site visits to the underperforming laboratories to identify potential areas for corrective and preventive action. IVI is also the leader on stakeholder engagementactivities and alignment across the Fleming Fund grant portfolio. By conducting baseline assessment symposiums and creating a comprehensive list of participants for both workshops and EQAs, IVI aims to create awareness among relevant capacity building partners in each of the Fleming Fund countries as well as in other countries in the Asian region. IVI contribution for the sustainability plan includes the development of a costing tool for analyzing the costs of the EQAs and collect data to create a budget forecasting to estimate the sustainability costs of the program for 10 years.

https://www.ivi.int

NIH is the regional EQA provider and facilitator for the human health sector. NIH coordinates the regional network of participating labs and provision of proficiency testing schemes and lyophilized bacteria (EQA materials) including report for the human health sector. NIH also supports project meetings and workshops, as well as capacity building activities for countries with low EQA score.

http://narst.dmsc.moph.go.th

CU is the regional EQA provider and facilitator for the animal health and food safety sector. CU coordinates the regional network of participating labs for the animal health sector including preparing EQA materials, bacterial strain validation, lyophilization, shipment and writing reports for this sector. CU contributes for the training workshops and supports capacity building for the laboratories with low EQA score.

http://www.cuvetamr.vet.chula.ac.th/

Documents for EQAsia EQA1 - February-March 2021