The Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers (VHFs) laboratory is located at the Department of Virology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana. The laboratory receives suspected cases of VHFs and other epidemic/pandemic-prone suspected clinical specimens from health facilities across the country and manipulates them to establish definitive diagnosis within any of the three high security level 3 laboratories at the Institute.
The laboratory is a member of the World Health Organization’s Emerging and Dangerous Pathogens Laboratory Network (EDPLN), which makes up the global and regional networks of high security human and veterinary diagnostic laboratories. The VHFs lab provides specialised testing support for the Ministry of Health and the Ghana Health Service in the diagnosis of pandemic-prone viruses.
The laboratory is set up to operate within 7 days and 24 hours base on the emergency operations schedule. This is eminent especially in times of public health crises where the laboratory is required to provide continuous monitoring, information gathering and rapid response. However, during peace times, the laboratory operates standard business hours of 8:00am to 5:00pm from Monday through Friday, with protocols for the after-hours and holidays emergencies handled at the main entrance of the Institute where a 24-hour security system operates.
For further information, please contact
Principal Investigator:
KBonney@noguchi.ug.edu.gh
Prof. Joseph Humphrey Kofi Bonney
Tel:+233 24 256 8041
Turnaround time between sample receipt and reporting finalized complete results is within 48 hours.
Reports of laboratory examination results are delivered through an established reporting structure with the health service. Routine surveillance tests results are however sent through the developed laboratory information system, the Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System (SORMAS), prioritizing the confidentiality of data and records.
