MRC Unit The Gambia (MRCG) donated colorimeters for use in five government health facilities for clinical chemistry analyses of cerebrospinal fluid in aid of meningitis diagnosis. The Items were received by the Director of Nursing and Midwifery Services, Mrs Margaret Gomez on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, and the Director of the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL), Mr Ignatius Baldeh.

The MRCG team was led by Dr Akram Zaman and the handing over took place on Thursday 27 October 2016 at the Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital in Banjul. The equipment that were handed over to these public health facilities along with training of their laboratory staff is part of The Unit’s commitment to Strengthening surveillance of invasive Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) infection in The Gambia.

The project seeks to understand the current epidemiology and microbiology of invasive Hib disease in The Gambia and helps to facilitate the microbiological processing and testing of patient specimen in order to identify causative organism(s) of meningitis.

The study is conducted by MRCG in collaboration NPHL and Ministry of Health and Social Welfare through various health facilities including; Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital, Serekunda Hospital, Brikama District Hospital, Fajikunda Major Health Centre, Jammeh Foundation for Peace Hospital Bundung,Sulayman Junkung General Hospital Bwiam and the World Evangelism for Christ International (WEC) Hospital, Sibanor.

In appreciation, Mr Ignatius Baldeh and Mrs Margaret Gomez thanked The Unit for the kind gesture, which they said will go a long way in the aid of clinical chemistry analyses of cerebrospinal fluid for meningitis diagnosis in the Gambia.