Liberia is advancing efforts to strengthen its national laboratory system as approximately 60 stakeholders from the human health, animal health,
environmental, academic, and development sectors convene in Monrovia to review and develop the National One Health Laboratory Strategic Plan (2026–2031), said a press release from NPHIL.
The five-day strategic planning workshop, which began on September 7 and runs through September 11 at the Sinkor Palace Hotel, is assessing the current laboratory system, identifying critical gaps and priorities, and establishing a coordinated roadmap for strengthening laboratory services over the next five years.
Funded by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) through its Laboratory Networks and Systems Division, the initiative is co-organized by the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) through the National Reference Laboratory and implemented by the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM).
The workshop brings together representatives from key national institutions, including the Ministries of Health, Agriculture and National Defense; NPHIL; Environmental Protection Agency; Liberia Standards Authority; Liberia One Health Coordination Platform; Liberia Medicines and Health Products Regulatory Authority; National Fisheries and Aquaculture Authority; Liberia Water and Sewer Corporation; Tubman National Institute of Medical Arts; and Lutheran University of Liberia. International partners include WHO, Africa CDC, ICF Macro, FHI360 and AFENET.
Opening the workshop, Donewell Bangure, Senior Epidemiologist at the Africa CDC Centre for Laboratory Diagnostics and Systems, reaffirmed Africa CDC’s support for Liberia’s laboratory strengthening agenda and encouraged stakeholders to take ownership of the strategic planning process.
“No nation is secure if it must depend on others to diagnose its own epidemics or manufacture the tools to protect its own people,” he added.
Also speaking, Philip K. Bemah, Director of the Monitoring and Evaluation Division at NPHIL, expressed appreciation to Africa CDC for its continued support and reaffirmed Liberia’s commitment to producing a quality and actionable strategic plan.
The development of the new plan comes as Liberia’s previous National Laboratory Strategic Plan has expired, creating the need for an updated strategic framework to guide the continued development of the country’s tiered laboratory network.
The new plan will build on progress made in recent years, including investments in Quality Management Systems (QMS) and capacity-building initiatives such as the Strengthening Laboratory Management Toward Accreditation (SLMTA) and Global Laboratory Leadership Program (GLLP).
Participants are examining key areas essential to a functional and sustainable laboratory system, including governance and coordination, diagnostic capacity, infrastructure and equipment, human resources, quality management, biosafety and biosecurity, laboratory information systems, financing, partnerships and sustainability.
The One Health approach is central to the process, recognizing that effective disease prevention, detection and response require coordinated laboratory capacity across human, animal and environmental health sectors.
The strategic plan is expected to strengthen laboratory governance and coordination, expand diagnostic capacity for priority diseases and emerging pathogens, improve quality assurance, biosafety and biosecurity, and align Liberia’s laboratory system with the International Health Regulations (2005) and broader global health security priorities.
Ultimately, the National One Health Laboratory Strategic Plan 2026-2031 is expected to provide Liberia with a clear, coordinated, and sustainable roadmap for developing a laboratory system that is better governed, adequately equipped, appropriately staffed, quality-assured, and capable of supporting timely disease detection, surveillance, and response.
As the workshop continues, stakeholders are working toward a shared vision for a resilient national laboratory system capable of contributing effectively to Liberia’s One Health and national health security priorities.