On Thursday, Kisumu County Deputy Governor Dr. Mathews Owili hailed this initiative as a significant milestone, emphasizing its role in advancing the surveillance of public health concerns through multi-disease testing platforms.
The new laboratory will not only focus on HIV testing and monitoring but will also cover other pathogens such as COVID-19, TB, HPV, Hepatitis, and potential future emerging diseases.
Dr. Owili highlighted that the establishment of this molecular laboratory brings Kisumu closer to eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmission by strengthening the capacity to address challenges related to Viral Load (VL) and Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) tests.
"Currently, Kisumu County's viral coverage stands at 96.3 percent, with child transmission rates at 6 percent," he stated.
Before this facility, viral load and EID tests were conducted only at KEMRI Kisian, AMPATH in Eldoret, and Walter Reed in Kericho. The transportation of samples to these facilities twice a week, coupled with a waiting time of one week to ten days, posed significant challenges in patient management.
"The turnaround time will be reduced by 85 percent since the facility is conveniently located within Kisumu Central Business District (CBD)," Dr. Owili explained.
He added that the lab would provide same-day results for samples from Kisumu County Referral Hospital, while peripheral healthcare facilities within the network would receive results within 24-72 hours.
During the launch of the testing platform, Dr. Owili announced that the facility has the capacity to conduct 2,000 tests per day.
"This development is a remarkable step forward in delivering timely results for the citizens of Kisumu and beyond," he remarked.
He also noted that the county has trained medical laboratory officers, providing them with the necessary knowledge and skills to perform the tests effectively.
The establishment of the facility was supported by National Public Health Laboratories, CDC/PEPFAR, Amref Health Africa, CIHEB, PATH, AMPATH, and KEMRI Kisian.
Dr. Owili expressed his gratitude to everyone who contributed to the facility, reiterating that reducing the disease burden in the county remains a top priority