EQAsia
Strengthening bacteriology diagnostics for AMR surveillance
The Fleming Fund Regional Grant EQAsia is dedicated to improve bacteriology diagnostics to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through the provision of External Quality Assessments (EQAs) and technical support to National Reference Laboratories and Centres of Excellence in low and middle-income countries across Asia.
Under a One Health (OH) remit, EQAsia provides a free of charge EQAs scheme with tailored training targeting quality management systems (QMS) and laboratory diagnostics.
Two of the programme's most notable features are the One Stop Shop design of diagnostic EQAs that focus on phenotypic species identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of WHO-GLASS and FAO priority pathogens, and the implementation of a unique user friendly, online informatic tool for reporting and analysis of EQA results. This simplifies data processing for EQA facilitators and enables the participants to assess new EQAs and review past performance.
Establishing a Community of Practice for AMR
To date 49 laboratories from 14 countries in the South and Southeast Asia regions have joint the EQAsia network:
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, PNG, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Timor-Leste, Vietnam.
Build into the architecture of EQAsia, the programme fosters a regional Community of Practice by connecting the laboratories and stakeholders through e.g. webinars and training activities to ensure knowledge sharing and support for one another across the health sectors and geographical borders.
The Fleming Fund
EQAsia is funded through a Regional Grant by The Fleming Fund.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC)'s Fleming Fund is a UK aid programme supporting up to 25 countries across Africa and Asia to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a leading contributor to deaths from infectious diseases worldwide.
The Fleming Fund invests in strengthening AMR surveillance systems through a portfolio of country grants, regional grants and fellowships managed by Mott MacDonald, and global projects managed by DHSC
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