Tanzania among five African nations to benefit from disease diagnosis programme

Iringa. Tanzania is set to benefit from a groundbreaking initiative aimed at improving the diagnosis of infectious diseases, including polio, measles, yellow fever, Ebola, mpox, and cholera. 

This programme, spearheaded by VillageReach and funded by Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, seeks to enhance laboratory sample referral and transportation systems across Africa.

Launched in January 2025, the initiative will strengthen healthcare systems in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Guinea, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda. 

By improving sample transport mechanisms, the programme aims to facilitate faster diagnoses, enable timely responses, and ultimately save lives in remote and underserved communities.

The CEO and President of VillageReach, Emily Bancroft, said the initiative seeks to come up with a robust primary healthcare systems that can respond swiftly to outbreaks. “This programme with Takeda enables us to work alongside governments to build infrastructure that not only saves lives but also enhances epidemic preparedness across the region," she said.

The programme, known as Integrated Laboratory Transport Systems to Stop Outbreaks, focuses on improving the efficiency and integration of laboratory sample transport for epidemic-prone diseases. It ensures the quality and integrity of samples during transit, facilitating accurate and timely diagnoses.

Additionally, the initiative will address surges in laboratory sample transportation demand, enhance community engagement, and provide targeted training for health workers and transporters. These measures will help contain outbreaks swiftly, minimising their impact on vulnerable populations.

A key objective is for all participating countries to digitise and integrate electronic reporting systems, enhancing data availability on sample movements and laboratory results. Furthermore, the programme will strengthen notification systems and establish patient feedback mechanisms, fostering more responsive and resilient healthcare structures.

In the DRC, the project will specifically seek to improve transport networks and routes for patient samples in 11 provinces; train 3,500 community leaders on crisis communication during outbreaks and provide health workers and local private transporters with training in biosafety, biosecurity, sample collection, packaging, transport, and reporting.

In Malawi, the focus will be on expanding on-demand transportation beyond polio and measles samples to other outbreak-prone diseases across all 800+ health facilities and training 400 community health workers to enhance outbreak detection and response.

In Guinea, the initiative will collaborate with the Ministry of Health through implementing partner FHI 360 to manage nationwide sample transport for infectious diseases. It will also utilize private local transporters (motorcycles, boats, minibuses, and flights) to ensure efficient sample movement and capture sample movements through a locally developed web and app-based data management system.

In Tanzania, the initiative will provide targeted training for healthcare workers and local governments in outbreak-prone regions; engage traditional healers, influential figures, and local leaders to promote awareness and improve sample transport during outbreaks; collaborate with partner organisation CIHEB-Tanzania as well as train hotline workers at the national health call centre to provide public guidance on epidemic-prone diseases.

The focus in Uganda will be on partnering with the Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI) to increase the frequency of infectious disease sample pickups as part of the National Lab Sample Transport System and training community health teams in 45 outbreak-prone districts on biosafety and early outbreak detection.

Additionally, four countries will employ real-time GPS and remote temperature monitoring (RTM) trackers during sample transport to ensure quality, integrity, and timely delivery to laboratories.

This initiative builds upon VillageReach’s Polio Lab Sample Transport Programme, operational in 15 African countries since 2022 in collaboration with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. It also aligns with Takeda’s Global Corporate Social Responsibility Programme, which has committed approximately $8 million over four years to support efforts in the five participating nations.

VillageReach’s initiative is expected to directly impact 116,000 people, with millions more benefiting indirectly from strengthened disease detection and surveillance systems. 

This will ultimately bolster Africa’s epidemic preparedness and response capabilities.