Date: July 2024 – December 2025
Country : The Philippines

Recognizing the vital role of laboratories and the One Health approach, the Global Fund, through the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), initiated a One Health project to support the Department of Health-Office for Health Laboratories (DOH-OHL),  and the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) Veterinary Laboratory Division (VLD) in capacity building to strengthen laboratory services in the Philippines.  

IQLS is providing technical assistance to strengthen the Philippine health laboratory system by improving the coordination of laboratory services and accreditation of NRLs (15189 and 17043)​. The specific tasks of this project are to: ​ 

  • Design and Conduct comprehensive Human and Veterinary laboratory landscape assessments ​ 
  • Support the development of a Philippines One Health Strategic Plan​ 
  • Support Laboratory QMS implementation towards ISO:15189 2022 accreditation​ by developing and accreditation roadmap and regular mentorship 
  • Support the National EQA program’s international accreditation​ 
  • Support the development of IVDMD regulatory frameworks​ 
  • Capacitate laboratory specialists with biostatistics and data management skills through training ​ 
  • Co-develop the Philippines National Biorisk Management training curriculum 

In 2024, gap analysis for the ISO15189 and ISO17043 implementation in 6 reference labs was conducted in Manilla. Two of the 5 laboratories were already accredited and are supported in the transition to the 2022 version of ISO15189​.  An ISO ISO15189:2022 Standard Training ​was conducted in the 5 NRLs with 25 participants, showing an impressive knowledge gain of 51,2%, and in-country mentorship has been initiated following the first training. Mentoring will go on throughout the duration of the project, to support the laboratories to prepare for accreditation. 

Early 2025, a human and veterinary laboratory assessment was conducted to obtain an overview of the laboratory system, detect any gaps, and provide recommendations. Building upon these recommendations, biostatistics training was carried out, and workshops on the development of a national laboratory strategic plan (NLSP) have been conducted.