Saving Lives Through Continuing Education: Supporting Nigeria’s Medical Laboratory Scientists

Medical laboratory science has been called "the hidden profession that saves lives." Medical laboratory scientists (MLS) are scientific investigators, analyzing bodily fluids and specimens to aid in the detection, diagnosis, and treatment of disease. In Africa, MLS are champions in the fight to contain and eliminate infectious diseases like Ebola, HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, making it critical that they stay up-to-date on advances in the field. MLS working in Nigeria, however, had limited opportunities for their continuing professional development. Given that approximately 70 percent of the evidence comes from a lab, this is a public health concern. Seeing a need to better support the advancement of the MLS field, USAID/Nigeria provided funding in 2011 for the Web-Based Continuing Medical Laboratory Education (CMLE) Program, locally referred to as the eLearning CPD project. 

This case study was submitted as part of USAID's CLA Case Competition, held in August 2015. This collection of examples illustrate the diversity of ways collaborating, learning, and adapting approaches are being operationalized in the field. To view more CLA cases like this one, visit the CLA Case Competition page.