Event highlights
The third hands-on training on anti-tuberculosis (TB) drug resistance surveillance brought together 29 health professionals from 12 provinces and 15 trainers from 5 provinces in Ankara. Through theoretical sessions and practical laboratory exercises, participants developed skills to support Türkiye’s efforts to monitor drug-resistant TB.
The training, held from 28 September to 2 October, forms part of a broader programme connecting professional development with support to laboratories, including those in provinces affected by the 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes.
Investing in people and practice
Over the past year, 3 hands-on training courses have reached 80 laboratory staff. The courses provided opportunities to apply theoretical knowledge in a laboratory setting and exchange experience with trainers and colleagues from across the country.
Alongside these training courses, 20 senior specialists were trained and added to a pool of experts supporting authorization processes within the national TB laboratory network. Their role extends the investment beyond individual training, providing expertise to support laboratories in meeting national requirements and thereby becoming authorized..
“Laboratory personnel need opportunities to put their knowledge into practice and learn from one another. Alongside hands-on training, preparing senior specialists to contribute to authorization processes helps us promote a consistent approach across the national tuberculosis laboratory network,” said Ahmet Arslantürk, a microbiology specialist at the National TB Reference Laboratory under Türkiye’s Ministry of Health.
Reaching laboratories in earthquake-affected provinces
With the participation of these senior specialists, authorization visits were conducted at 13 laboratories in 8 provinces affected by the 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes.
The visits connected the expertise developed through training with work in laboratories serving earthquake-affected communities. Together, these activities support the application of common standards, collaboration between laboratories and the continuity of quality laboratory services.
“Reliable laboratory services are essential to detecting and monitoring drug-resistant tuberculosis. Connecting investment in people with support to laboratories, particularly in earthquake-affected provinces, contributes to TB elimination efforts while reinforcing the foundations of public health preparedness,” said Bahadır Sucaklı, an epidemiologist at the WHO Country Office in Türkiye.
A partnership supporting national priorities
The activities were carried out under the European Union-funded project “Strengthening national capacities against COVID-19 and other public health emergencies”, implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the WHO Country Office in Türkiye to enhance national capacity to detect and respond to public health emergencies.
The partnership combines national leadership and institutional expertise with WHO’s technical support and European Union funding. Through this approach, the project supports practical improvements in routine laboratory services that also help Türkiye prepare for future public health emergencies.