A laboratory-focussed desk review of health systems in Uganda, Kenya, and the UK to respond to current and future pandemics.

BACKGROUND

Laboratory systems play a crucial role in managing diseases effectively, and the COVID-19 pandemic serves as a prime example. The pandemic underscored the need to make laboratory health systems more resilient and robust to respond to future pandemics.

METHODS

We conducted a desk review guided by the six World Health Organization health system building blocks (health service delivery, health financing, medical products, vaccines, and technologies, human resources for health, governance, and health information systems).

RESULTS

The three countries' strengths include health information systems, well-established reference laboratories, mobile and community-level testing, a vibrant private laboratory sector in Uganda and Kenya, and a growing private sector in the UK. In Uganda and Kenya, there are laboratory connectivity solutions for molecular diagnostics, multi-disease testing platforms and specimen referral systems, while in the UK, there are hub-and-spoke networks. Weaknesses in Uganda and Kenya include vertical laboratory systems strengthening, ill-equipped laboratories, constrained and inequitable distribution of laboratory human resources, and limited data use. In the UK, there is chronic underfunding and undervaluing of disciplines supporting infection testing, microbiology and virology.

CONCLUSIONS

The growing contribution of the private sector in the three countries and the deployment of multi-disease testing platforms should be supported, given the advantage of shared financial costs in the face of chronic underfunding for laboratory systems.