Health systems strengthening

BD-PEPFAR Labs For Life

In 2007, BD initiated a partnership with PEPFAR and the CDC to strengthen the systems and skills necessary to improve diagnostic testing capabilities for HIV, TB and other diseases. As part of this programme, called Labs For Life, BD deploys its associates, leveraging their laboratory quality expertise, to serve as mentors for laboratory staff on the ground. These efforts enable labs to progress toward internationally recognized accreditation and help scale up national laboratory standards and systems. In addition to traditional mentorships, the programme also includes safer blood collection, specimen referral systems, equipment maintenance training and implementation of geographic information systems to enable better data analysis. The first phase of the partnership was completed in 2012, and results were recently published in the Supplement to the Journal of Infectious Diseases.In 2013, Phase 2 of the partnership was signed for five years and implemented in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mozambique, South Africa and India. In 2018, the partnership was further renewed for three years. In 2021, all activities were sustainably transitioned to the public sector.

BD-PEPFAR Safer Blood Collection

As access to HIV & AIDS treatment increased dramatically in sub-Saharan Africa, so did the quantity of blood drawing necessary for HIV screening and monitoring. The Safer Blood Collection initiative was launched in Kenya in 2010 and was later expanded to include Zambia, Tanzania and Krygyzstan. The programme helped hospital and clinical personnel improve blood drawing and specimen handling procedures, controlled exposure to the HIV virus by providing postexposure prophylaxis and helped prevent needlestick injuries by establishing or enhancing needlestick surveillance. The partnership supported in-service training for as many as 10,000 healthcare workers as well as the establishment of a national phlebotomy school at the Kenya Medical Training College. In addition, the monitoring component of the initiative aimed to track as many as 2 million blood draws within each participating country.

The Journal of Infectious Diseases: Finding of Phlebotomy Practises in Kenya in 2010

NABH Safe-I programme in India

BD and the National Accreditation Board for Hospitals, India (NABH) had joined efforts to address patient and healthcare worker safety through a Safe-I certification program. The program was positioned as a stepping stone toward achieving complete hospital accreditation. Along with designing the Safe-I program, BD performed baseline assessments, set surveillance systems before the NABH certified a site and provided resource personnel for managing the program. Through this intervention, by end 2018, 162 hospitals were Safe-I certified by NABH.