Conference Abstract | Volume 9, Abstract 066 (ConfProc7) | Published: 09 Jul 2026
Solomon Asante-Sefa1,&, Oksana Ryabinina2, Ebenezer Kofi Mensah1, Emma Edinam Kploanyi3, Richard Kutame4, Gifty Boateng4, Bernard Nkrumah3
1Sekondi Zonal Public Health Laboratory, Regional Health Directorate, Takoradi, Ghana, 2Department of Chemical Pathology, School of Medical Sciences, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana, 3African Field Epidemiology Network, Accra, Ghana, 4National Public Health and Reference Laboratory, Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana
&Corresponding author: Solomon Asante-Sefa, Sekondi Zonal Public Health Laboratory, Regional Health Directorate, Takoradi, Ghana, Email: sefajnr@gmail.com
Received: 29 Aug 2025, Accepted: 28 Oct 2025, Published: 09 Jul 2026
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance, Laboratory capacity, Quality management systems, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, Ghana
©Solomon Asante-Sefa et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Solomon Asante-Sefa et al. Readiness assessment of non-sentinel hospital microbiology laboratories for integration into Ghana’s AMR Surveillance System, Western Region, 2025. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2026;9(ConfProc7):066. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO7-0066
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remains a pressing global health threat, attributable to 4.95 million deaths annually. Effective control measures demand reliable laboratory data for guiding policies and treatment decisions. Limited laboratory participation in surveillance reduces data reliability, but expanding coverage requires meeting essential quality standards. This study assessed the capacity of non-sentinel hospital laboratories for integration into the national AMR surveillance system.
A prospective cross-sectional assessment was conducted in six hospital microbiology laboratories in the Western Region using the CDC’s Laboratory Assessment of Antimicrobial Resistance Testing Capacity (LAARC) checklist. All 14 domains of the checklist were administered onsite to staff directly involved in bacteriology testing. Completed forms were entered into the LAARC tool, which automatically generated domain specific and composite capacity scores. Laboratory readiness was categorised as not ready (<50%), moderately ready (50–79%), or fully ready (≥80%). Descriptive statistics were used to summarise results and identify priority areas for improvement.
Fourteen laboratory personnel were assessed across six eligible laboratories. Most held bachelor’s degree in medical laboratory science (n = 12; 85.7%), while two had diploma qualification (n=2; 14.3%). One laboratory (16.7%) demonstrated moderate readiness (77.9% ±14.1) while five (83.3%) scored below 50%. Overall, the weakest-performing domains were internal quality control for identification (median 33.5%, range 13–96), media (median 24.5%, range 18–70), antimicrobial susceptibility testing (median 0%, range 0–63), and AST expert rules (median 25.0%, range 18–90). Key gaps included the absence of bacterial reference strains, lack of standard operating procedures (SOPs), uncalibrated equipment, and non-participation in proficiency testing programmes.
Most laboratories exhibited limited readiness for integration into AMR surveillance, although some showed potential for improvement. The Ministry of Health should prioritise access to bacterial reference strains, SOP development, mentorship, and enrolment into proficiency testing programmes to improve the reliability of microbiology results for AMR control.
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