In August, European scientists were working round the clock at the prestigious Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome to set up a mobile laboratory soon to be deployed in Ebola-affected villages in West Africa.
This would be the second such lab emerging from the EuropeAid-funded Emlab project, which seeks to establish “three deployable mobile laboratory units for the detection and diagnosis of infectious pathogens up to the highest risk group 4.” The first lab was already set up in Guinea in March, and the third will be made available for training.
However, a number of details were still being worked out in Rome, the most important of which is whether the second mobile lab will be dispatched to Sierra Leone or Liberia, the other two countries affected by the Ebola outbreak that has been crippling West Africa and had caused over 1,000 deaths since March, as of late August.
Read more articles on the Ebola outbreak:
● Ebola crisis in West Africa: A wake-up call for donors?
● WHO on Ebola outbreak: We need more health workers
● On the ground fighting Ebola
● How USAID is responding to Ebola in West Africa
About the author
Elena L. Pasquini@elenapasquini
Elena Pasquini covers the development work of the European Union as well as various U.N. food and agricultural agencies for Devex News. Based in Rome, she also reports on Italy's aid reforms and attends the European Development Days and other events across Europe. She has interviewed top international development officials, including European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs. Elena has contributed to Italian and international magazines, newspapers and news portals since 1995.
