Medical laboratory professionals from across West Africa are using a five-day congress in Lomé to press for stronger cross-border diagnostic cooperation, common quality standards and a better-prepared workforce. The meeting runs from 15 to 19 September 2026 at the Palais des Congrès in the Togolese capital and brings together associations from at least 16 countries.
The gathering is the first statutory and constitutive congress of the Federation of West African Medical Laboratory Science Associations, known as FWAMLSA, alongside a regional medical-biology congress. Organisers expected more than 350 participants, including laboratory scientists, doctors, pharmacists, researchers and public-health specialists.
A regional profession tries to close laboratory gaps
Their central argument is practical: infections and other health threats can move across borders faster than fragmented laboratory systems can identify them. Dr Kossi Kabo, president of the Association of Medical Biologists of Togo, said the new federation is intended to pool expertise, improve professional coordination and give laboratory workers a stronger collective voice with governments.
That regional structure is still being built. Local reporting from the congress says national associations are working toward harmonised practices and training, while sharing experience on equipment, maintenance, biosafety and regulation. It does not mean West African governments have created a single surveillance agency or committed a common budget.
Laboratories sit at the point where a suspected illness becomes a confirmed diagnosis. Faster, reliable testing can help health authorities separate one disease from another, identify clusters, guide treatment and decide when a wider response is justified. Weak supply chains, limited maintenance and uneven quality systems can delay each of those steps.
Why speed and quality matter before a crisis
The congress organisers explicitly connect the initiative to lessons from COVID-19, when limited early diagnostic capacity forced emergency measures, including mobile laboratories. Their stated aim is to develop strategies before future crises and make sure laboratory professionals are included in preparedness planning rather than added only after hospitals come under pressure.
Sessions in Lomé range beyond epidemic detection. The programme covers infectious and non-communicable diseases, laboratory quality management, biological-resource and data stewardship, artificial intelligence, precision medicine and the One Health approach linking human, animal and environmental health. Those subjects matter because emerging infections and antimicrobial resistance often require information from more than one sector.
Delegates also described persistent obstacles: shortages of equipment and reagents, maintenance problems, gaps in continuing education, inconsistent professional regulation and insufficient visibility for laboratory workers in national health planning. A regional federation may help compare solutions, but procurement, staffing and regulation remain decisions for individual governments and institutions.
A congress is a platform—not a funded government programme
The distinction between professional recommendations and public policy is important. The Lomé congress has not announced a new epidemic, issued a public-health emergency or created binding obligations for any state. Its proposals will matter only if final resolutions are followed by national budgets, measurable training, dependable supply systems and agreements for sharing results safely and quickly.
The meeting nevertheless gives the region a more organised route for cooperation before the next emergency. The immediate questions are whether FWAMLSA publishes a detailed final communique, which governments formally engage with it and whether laboratories outside major capitals gain access to the quality assurance, equipment and skilled personnel that delegates say are needed. Those implementation steps—not the creation of another professional body alone—will determine whether patients receive faster, more reliable diagnoses.
