Zambart Laboratories
Laboratories continue to play an important role in disease control and prevention programs through the provision of timely and accurate information for use in disease surveillance and patient management. In line with Zambart’s mission and objectives, the Zambart Laboratory Unit is organized to directly assist the organization in fulfilling its mandate to influence public health policy through research and improving health research capacity in Zambia.
The Zambart Laboratory consists of the Central Laboratory situated at Zambart House which comprises a Biosafety Level 3 TB laboratory, a Genomic Sequencing laboratory (AMPHEUS,) and a Serology and Immunology laboratory. The Zambart Laboratory has the capacity to perform TB culture processing, genomic sequencing and real-time PCR testing for HIV Viral Load, HPV, STIs and Schistosomiasis, rapid tests and fourth-generation testing for HIV and other immunological tests, CD4 Counts, GeneXpert assays such as Xpert MTB/ RIF Ultra, SARS-CoV-2, HPV and HIV viral load, plasma processing, QuantiFERON® TB Gold-Plus for TB infection, STI testing, and microscopy. The Laboratory is also equipped with a repository containing several ultra-low temperature freezers for long-term storage of samples. Zambart Laboratory also operates through satellite laboratories in MoH hospitals and clinics in which Zambart partners with MoH on various studies in different communities.
The Zambart Laboratory has embarked on attaining laboratory accreditation according to ISO15189 and has engaged in quality manual training, compliance and implementation activities, and as part of the process, the laboratory is involved in routine External Quality Assurance (EQA) and Proficiency Testing activities for different lab assays and tests performed at Zambart Laboratory. Testing panels are received from the College of American Pathologists (CAP) and the Uganda Supra-National Reference Laboratory (SRL.)