Zimbabwe delegation visit for "SILAB for Africa"

From the 3rd to the 16th of May, 2012, doctors Wedzerai Makaya, Felistas Ndhlovu and Uchirai Chindezwa of the Central Veterinary Laboratory (CVL) of Harare, Zimbabwe, underwent a training period on the Laboratory Information Management System " SILAB for Africa", at the Teramo G. Caporale Institute (ICT). The programme was developed by the Data Processing Centre Development department of the ICT, within the SADC countries cooperation project.

After Namibia and Botswana, Zimbabwe is the third country to adopt "SILAB for Africa", and Zambia has already requested the same application for the management of its own national laboratories.

The training period allowed the three veterinarians from Zimbabwe to undergo a complete overview of the diagnostic process and the use of laboratory data. It also allowed them to acquire the fundamental basic notions underlying the software and the ability to use it autonomously. Concurrently, "SILAB for Africa" was customised to meet their specific needs and rendered available on Demo mode on a sub-site of the Institute for them to carry on using it from the CVL of Harare.

The installation of the product on the premises and its steady use are scheduled for September 2012.

During the training period the Zimbabwe doctors further had the opportunity to resume the study on the monitoring and control of brucellosis, and acquire the basic notions regarding the role of GIS in epidemiology. Training sessions were also conducted with respect to the Laboratory Quality System.