ASCP staff members Barbara Hoffman and Kaitlin Sandhaus, along with consultant Michele Best, recently convened in New York City January 26-27 to attend the PEPFAR Laboratory Technical Working Group Consultation. The purpose of this meeting was to review laboratory challenges, opportunities and best practices learned in supporting the objectives of PEPFAR 1 in order to plan for future activities under PEPFAR 2.

PEPFAR, a $15 billion United States government commitment towards HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, was initially instituted as an emergency plan to counteract the devastating toll HIV/AIDS has taken in developing countries around the world. Between 2003 and 2008, the goal was to increase the amount of people receiving anti-retroviral treatment to two million, prevent seven million new infections and support care for ten million people. With the reauthorization of PEPFAR, PEPFAR 2 has grown dramatically larger, with $48 billion committed through 2013, and the focus has changed from emergency measures to an emphasis on long term planning and prevention.

The New York meeting will address these changes within PEPFAR. Topics to be covered include, consensus on Critical Laboratory Indicators, Standardized and Sustainable Public Health approach to implemented Laboratory Quality Management Systems, and Laboratory and health system strengthening. Attendees at the meeting include key stakeholders from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and countries that receive PEPFAR funding, along with other stakeholders from organizations such as CLSI and ASM who, like ASCP, receive PEPFAR monies and are partners in our efforts to improve laboratory infrastructure in the PEPFAR countries.