How World Courier Training Aids the Cure for TB

I was lucky enough to travel to Benin, writes World Courier Belgium's Jean-Guy, to give Dangerous Goods training to 26 participants coming from several West and Central African countries including Benin, Burkina-Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sénégal, Togo and Burundi.

The training was organized by the Institute of Tropical Medicine ( ITM) based in Antwerp/Belgium and their institutional partner, the Laboratoire de Référence de Mycobactéries (LRM) based in Benin

ITM is heavily involved in the research of many tropical diseases all over the world. They are also an international reference laboratory on mycobacteria itself but they also focus on transferring skills by supporting and ensuring the quality of analysis of regional laboratories, such as LRM. LRM is even in the running to become the first WHO supranational reference laboratory in West Africa.  I had the chance to visit the LRM facilities and I must say they are doing impressive work.

The primary aim of my DG training was to train a maximum of their West and Central African partners for their tuberculosis and Buruli ulcer researches.  Thanks to continuous support and training from ITM, LRM has become a well-functioning lab network for the diagnosis of tuberculosis and Buruli ulcer, both caused by mycobacteria, so they have many patient samples to send.

It was a great success, and we're ready for shipping from all over Africa!

If you would like to find out more about the work of the ITM then visit their website here