TOGO : A large batch of medical equipment to strengthen health capacity
On January 11, 2024, the Minister of Health and Public Hygiene, Professor Moustafa Mijiyawa, received a significant batch of human laboratory equipment in Bè Château, Lomé. This medical equipment will strengthen the capacities of the Togolese healthcare system for better epidemiological surveillance of potentially epidemic diseases and improved emergency response.
The human laboratory equipment handed over to the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene on January 11, 2024, by the World Bank, consists of technical medical equipment, including 18 binocular optical microscopes, 18 bench centrifuges, 12 water baths, 3 ELISA machines, 14 shakers, 16 precision balances, and 16 pH meters.
This equipment also includes cooling and sterilization equipment, such as 18 laboratory refrigerators, 18 -20°C freezers, 15 dry-heat sterilizers, 18 universal ovens, and 18 CO2 incubators. Additionally, there is small equipment, including 36 Malassez cells, 18 differential cell counters, 17 Bunsen burners + bottles of butane, propane, and accessories, 144 micropipettes of various categories, and 18 manual dispensers for culture media. These equipment are intended for about twenty hospitals and districts across the country.
According to the World Bank’s Resident Representative in Togo, Mr. Fily Sissoko, this medical equipment will strengthen the national public health system. They also aim to prevent, detect, and respond to the threat posed by COVID-19 in recent years. « COVID-19 has taught us that no country in the world is truly prepared to face a pandemic of such virulence and magnitude. The main lesson we have learned is the crucial importance of strengthening national disease surveillance systems to detect such epidemics very early and be able to act very quickly to minimize loss of life and economic costs », noted Mr. Sissoko.
For him, the post-COVID-19 context requires doing better and more. In this regard, he indicated that this support is a clear expression of his institution’s intention to support the implementation of the Togo 2025 government roadmap, which emphasizes the importance of strengthening the national response to epidemics, including the development and implementation of a plan to respond to health emergencies.
