{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,7,30]],"date-time":"2025-07-30T12:34:44Z","timestamp":1753878884179,"version":"3.41.2"},"reference-count":24,"publisher":"Wiley","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,17]],"date-time":"2023-11-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1700179200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":16,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["onlinelibrary.wiley.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Influenza Resp Viruses"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,11]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title><jats:p>The COVID\u201019 pandemic placed unprecedented stress on laboratories in the Eastern Mediterranean Region. Building on existing capacity for influenza diagnostics, countries introduced COVID\u201019 diagnostic support to ~100% regional coverage. A key challenge during the expansion was maintaining quality testing in laboratories, ensuring that correct results were shared with medical facilities.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>WHO organized two rounds of independently monitored severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus\u20102 (SARS\u2010CoV\u20102) external quality assurance programs (EQAP). The Public Health Laboratory (PHL) division of WHO supplied external quality assurance (EQA) panels, from the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia Quality Assurance Programme (RCPAQAP) Australia to laboratories not enrolled in recurring Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS) quality assurance programs, in which national influenza centers routinely participate.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Fifteen and 14 countries participated in PHL\/EQAP for SARS\u2010CoV\u20102 between 2020 and 2022. Concordance was consistent between rounds, reaching 96.4% and 89.9%. A separate assessment of GISRS\/EQAP to national\u2010level laboratories identified high levels of response and concordance for SARS\u2010CoV\u20102 (100% response, 93% concordance), which was reduced for influenza (50% response rate, 80% concordance), reflecting the challenge of prioritizing pathogens during outbreaks.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>The proliferation of laboratories in response to COVID\u201019 was a success story from the pandemic. However, monitoring the quality of laboratories was challenging via existing EQAP. The addition of PHL\/EQAP provided a mechanism to monitor performance of laboratories that were not designated as national influenza centers. While a high proportion of laboratories attained good results, continual emphasis on quality and enrollment in EQAP is key to ensuring sustainability of laboratory testing in future.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1111\/irv.13217","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,17]],"date-time":"2023-11-17T08:54:36Z","timestamp":1700211276000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Monitoring the quality of SARS\u2010CoV\u20102 virus detection in molecular diagnostic laboratories in the Eastern Mediterranean Region during the COVID\u201019 pandemic"],"prefix":"10.1111","volume":"17","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3802-8290","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luke W.","family":"Meredith","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Hazard Management, Department of Health Emergency World Health Organization, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office  Cairo Egypt"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mustafa","family":"Aboualy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Hazard Management, Department of Health Emergency World Health Organization, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office  Cairo Egypt"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Rachel","family":"Ochola","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Hazard Management, Department of Health Emergency World Health Organization, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office  Cairo Egypt"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mehmet","family":"Ozel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Hazard Management, Department of Health Emergency World Health Organization, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office  Cairo Egypt"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Abdinasir","family":"Abubakar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Hazard Management, Department of Health Emergency World Health Organization, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office  Cairo Egypt"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Amal","family":"Barakat","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Hazard Management, Department of Health Emergency World Health Organization, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office  Cairo Egypt"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"311","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_2_10_2_1","unstructured":"WHO.WHO EMRO Regional Countries.2022.https:\/\/www.emro.who.int\/countries.html"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_3_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.26719\/2022.28.12.851"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_4_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s00038\u2010017\u20101017\u2010y"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_5_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization.Laboratory testing for coronavirus disease (COVID\u201019) in suspected human cases.https:\/\/www.who.int\/publications\/i\/item\/10665-331501"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_6_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office.Epidemic and pandemic prone diseases in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: current outbreak dashboard.https:\/\/www.emro.who.int\/pandemic-epidemic-diseases\/outbreaks\/index.html"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_7_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization.Target product profiles for priority diagnostics to support response to the COVID\u201019 pandemic v.1.0.2020.https:\/\/www.who.int\/publications\/m\/item\/covid-19-target-product-profiles-for-priority-diagnostics-to-support-response-to-the-covid-19-pandemic-v.0.1"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_8_1","unstructured":"World Health Organization Global Influenza Programme.External quality assessment project.https:\/\/www.who.int\/teams\/global-influenza-programme\/laboratory-network\/eqa-project"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_9_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2807\/1560\u20107917.ES.2020.25.3.2000045"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_10_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1038\/s41579\u2010020\u201000461\u2010z"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_11_1","unstructured":"MoralesM BarbarR GandhiD et al.COVID\u201019 tests gone rogue: privacy efficacy mismanagement and misunderstandings.2021."},{"key":"e_1_2_10_12_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.amsu.2020.07.022"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_13_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/jcla.23804"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_14_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmj.o2681"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_15_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.15252\/embr.202254932"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_16_1","unstructured":"Rockefeller Foundation.A landscape analysis of laboratory technologies for Covid\u201019 response in low\u2010and middle\u2010income countries.2020.https:\/\/www.rockefellerfoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/LMIC-Covid-19-Landscape-Analysis_20-Nov-2020.pdf"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_17_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7189\/jogh.12.03045"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_18_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1186\/s12915\u2010020\u201000891\u20104"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_19_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S2542\u20105196(23)00002\u20105"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_20_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5334\/aogh.2647"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_21_1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijid.2022.06.060"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_22_1","unstructured":"CDC.CDC Biorepository Program.https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/csels\/dls\/cdc-biorepository.html"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_23_1","unstructured":"European Virus Archive.https:\/\/www.european-virus-archive.com\/"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_24_1","unstructured":"United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency National Institute for Biological Standards and Control.https:\/\/www.nibsc.org\/"},{"key":"e_1_2_10_25_1","unstructured":"Quality Control for Molecular Diagnostics.https:\/\/www.qcmd.org\/"}],"container-title":["Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1111\/irv.13217","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2023,12,14]],"date-time":"2023-12-14T18:00:27Z","timestamp":1702576827000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/irv.13217"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,11]]},"references-count":24,"journal-issue":{"issue":"11","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,11]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1111\/irv.13217"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1111\/irv.13217","archive":["Portico"],"relation":{},"ISSN":["1750-2640","1750-2659"],"issn-type":[{"type":"print","value":"1750-2640"},{"type":"electronic","value":"1750-2659"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,11]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2023-05-17","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2023-10-10","order":1,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2023-11-17","order":2,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}],"article-number":"e13217"}}