The Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia (CIDRZ) in partnership with the Ministry of Health (MoH) conducted a 2-day motor bike riders training at CIDRZ CAMPUS (VenYou) in Lusaka aimed at supplementing sample referral and result return systems.

The Lusaka Provincial Health Office with support from the CIDRZ Lab Innovation for Excellence (LIFE) project is supporting the scale up of laboratory services for Viral Load (VL) and Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) testing through capacity building for sample couriers.

This is being done with the emphasis on achieving the third global target through timely monitoring of clients on anti-retroviral therapy (ART). “Efficient sample movement, biosafety and data management among motorbike riders plays a crucial role in healthcare service provision and remains a priority for CIDRZ”, said Mr Male Kasonde who is the Lusaka Provincial Laboratory Coordinator.

The training also aimed at addressing challenges faced during sample courier, with the view of strengthening data capturing tools (ODK, Sample/Results courier logs).Further, the training also covered basic motor bike maintenance and troubleshooting and equipped riders in biosafety. Participants were drawn from districts including, Chongwe, Rufunsa, Kafue, Chilanga and Luangwa.