A blueprint for the future of testing labs in Africa

Prof. Wendy Stevens

The COVID-19 pandemic has spectacularly demonstrated the value of testing laboratories in a way that we had never seen before. Professor Wendy Stevens, a global leader in HIV and TB-related laboratory medicine, points out that testing for COVID-19 has generally been chaotic—globally and in Africa—during the pandemic. African laboratories will need to make significant design changes to ensure that they can thrive in the future. The barriers are real, but the challenges are not insurmountable.

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Wendy is a global leader in HIV and TB-related laboratory medicine. She is HoD of Molecular Medicine and Haematology at the Wits University and heads up the National Priority Programme within the National Health Laboratory Service, which is the largest pathology service provider in South Africa, servicing 80% of the population in the public sector.