The Lancet Global Health: Global health security: how can laboratories help?
Editorial Board

“‘How did Ebola happen and could it happen again?’ is a question asked countless times over the past three years. More often than not, the catastrophic failure of health system coherence and capacity in the three most affected countries in West Africa is fingered as the inevitable culprit … From a global perspective, there is now a comprehensive program in place to strengthen countries’ capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to public health emergencies of international concern, including from the perspective of laboratory systems. … A functioning clinical laboratory network is an indispensable part of the health system, being vital to disease burden estimation, timely diagnosis, and monitoring of treatment response. It is also an essential component of global health security. Africa should treasure its dynamic [African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM)], its new CDC, and its committed young laboratory professionals in its collaborative journey towards a world safe from future health threats” (February 2017).