Brief
A laboratory result is only useful if it can be trusted, and external quality assessment is how trust is earned and demonstrated. This toolkit equips national laboratory programmes to establish, run and act on EQA schemes for priority pathogens across the MPA laboratory network. It covers panel design and dispatch, participant enrolment, scoring and feedback, corrective-action tracking, and the governance that keeps a scheme credible. The toolkit was used in the Ethiopia–Burundi EQA training and is designed to interoperate with the biosafety and quality-management-system workstreams so that a laboratory improving its EQA performance is simultaneously strengthening its accreditation journey. Templates, checklists and a sample scoring workbook are included so that a national team can run its first round within one quarter.
Scheme design
Guidance on panel composition, homogeneity and stability testing, and dispatch logistics for priority pathogens across a multi-country network.
Scoring & corrective action
A transparent scoring model is paired with a corrective-action tracker so that poor performance triggers documented improvement, not just a low grade.
Accreditation linkage
EQA performance is mapped to the relevant SLIPTA/accreditation requirements so one effort advances two goals.
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