PEPFAR, private partner launch 5-year 'Labs for Life' initiative

At the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) on Thursday, PEPFAR and Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD), "announced Labs for Life, a new collaboration to help strengthen health care and laboratory systems in the developing world along with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)," a State Department fact sheet states (7/26). "The new five-year initiative builds on a previous five-year partnership between the U.S. government and [BD]" that "improved lab services in sub-Saharan African countries affected by HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, according to U.S. officials who had been briefed on an audit that will be released in a few weeks," CQ HealthBeat reports (Adams, 7/26).

"The new collaboration, valued at $20 million ... will include Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Mozambique and also expand outside of Africa to India," the fact sheet notes (7/26). "'The collaboration between PEPFAR and BD exemplifies the unique impact that public-private partnerships can have on addressing health challenges in the developing world,' said Thomas Frieden, the director of the [CDC]," CQ HealthBeat writes, adding, "The goals of the new program include improving labs so that they can be accredited by outside organizations and training personnel in how to use and take care of equipment" (7/26).