Conference Abstract | Volume 9 (ConfProc7): Abstract 097 | Published: 07 Oct 2026
Gerard Quarcoo1,&, Emmanuel Bekoe1, Samuel Armoo2
1Environmental Biology, Biotechnology and Health Division, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Water Research Institute, Tamale, 2Biomedical and Public Health Research Unit, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Water Research Institute, Achimota, Accra
&Corresponding author: Gerard Quarcoo, Environmental Biology, Biotechnology and Health Division, CSIR, Water Research Institute, Tamale. Email: geroquabs@gmail.com
Received: 29 Aug 2025, Accepted: 28 Oct 2025, Published: 07 Oct 2026
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
This is part of the Proceedings of the 8th Ghana FELTP Scientific Conference and FELTP Competency Graduation, Accra, Ghana, 10 – 11 December, 2025
Keywords: Antimicrobial resistance, One Health, Sentinel sites, Environmental health, Northern region
©Gerard Quarcoo 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: Gerard Quarcoo et al. Assessment of environmental health laboratories to propose a sentinel site for AMR surveillance in the Northern region of Ghana, 2025. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2026;9(ConfProc7):097. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO7-0097
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global public health threat, requiring effective surveillance encompassing the One Health approach. Ghana’s One Health AMR surveillance system integrates the human, animal, and environmental health sectors. However, the environmental health sector in the Northern region currently contributes minimally to the AMR surveillance system in Ghana. This study, therefore, sought to assess environmental health laboratories (EHLs) in the Northern region to identify those with the potential to serve as sentinel sites.
A cross-sectional assessment was conducted between August and September 2025 involving five key personnel—laboratory heads and managers—from the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), CSIR-Water Research Institute (WRI), University for Development Studies (UDS), and Tamale Technical University (TaTU) EHLs. Data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires, key informant interviews, and observational checklists adapted from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Laboratory Assessment of Antibiotic Resistance Testing Capacity (CDC-LAARC) guide. Laboratories were evaluated across various thematic areas, including laboratory mandate, infrastructure, staff qualifications, equipment availability, reagent and data management, and adherence to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
All the laboratories demonstrated basic capacity to conduct bacteriological analysis on water and/or wastewater samples with a score of 72.7% (8/11) in laboratory infrastructure. Regarding reagents management covering AMR works, TaTU and GWL laboratories had the lowest scores (7.3% and 9.8%) respectively. However, all the laboratory managers had over five years of professional experience, possessed postgraduate qualifications (MSc or PhD) in microbiology-related disciplines and supported by trained technical staff. Overall, WRI and UDS laboratories, achieved the highest scores of 82.9% and 73.2%, graded as good and moderate, respectively.
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