Chika Narita (Presenting),1) Sora Suka,2) Amina Galata,2) Victor Ager,2) Mwajuma Abubakar,2) Gabriel Miringu,2) Martin Bundi,2) Masaaki Shimada,2) Mohamed Karama,3) Shingo Inoue,4) Yoshio Ichinose,2)
1) JICA, Senior volunteer, Nairobi, Kenya, 2) Nagasaki University, Institute of Tropical Medicine (NUITM), Nairobi, Kenya, 3) CPHR, KEMRI, Nairobi, Kenya,4) JICA, JSPS ARBVIRUS Project, Nairobi, Kenya
Biosafety is a general preventive measure against biohazard and its technique is a basic technique of infectious disease research. The principle of biosafety is that laboratory workers are not infected and that there should be no contamination of the surroundings. This is based on the third edition of the Laboratory biosafety manual published by the World Health Organization in 2004. Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University (NUITM) in collaboration with Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) have installed the biosafety level 2 and 3 laboratory (P2 and P3 lab) at Center of Microbiology Research in 2007 and a variety of pathogens, e.g. Mycobacterium tuberculosis, West Nile and Yellow fever virus have been handled. The aim of this study is to evaluate quality of biosafety measures at the P2 and P3 lab as enforced by the laboratory workers and researchers and to document the challenges faced in the process. We have conducted biosafety seminars to introduce the concept annually and this was followed by short term practical training in P3 which included biosafety handling of biological substances. Furthermore, we evaluated the process included post-seminar results and pre- and post- practical training results. It has been observed that biosafety practices among the laboratory users have greatly improved after the seminar and the practical training. Training on biosafety techniques enhanced and improved sensitivity of users in the laboratories. However, the sustainability of the practical implementation remains a challenge.