Speaker:
Professor Rosanna Peeling. Chair, Diagnostic Research. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Rosanna Peeling is currently Professor/Chair of Diagnostics Research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Director of the International Diagnostic Centre (IDC). Trained as a medical microbiologist, she was Research Coordinator and Head of Diagnostics Research at the UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases in Geneva and Chief of the National Laboratory for Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Canada before assuming her current position. Her research focuses on defining unmet diagnostic needs and facilitating test development, evaluation and implementation. She established the IDC to advocate the value of diagnostics, foster innovation, and accelerate access to quality-assured diagnostics. She has served on many WHO guideline development groups and expert committees for pandemic preparedness and response.
Overview:
Point-of-care (POC) testing has played a critical role in the COVID-19 pandemic response worldwide. Rapid antigen POC tests have been used at an unprecedented scale in homes and non-health care settings for screening to protect the vulnerable, for release from quarantine, and in communities to enable safe environments for the resumption of economic recovery and social and cultural activities. POC tests that are accurate, accessible and affordable have empowered the public and communities to play their part in the pandemic response. Post-pandemic, governments should leverage technological innovations in diagnostics and data connectivity to improve the quality of care, especially for remote and marginalised communities, reduce stresses on the health care system and provide early alerts of possible outbreaks.
Objectives:
At the end of this activity, participants will be able to:
- Describe the advances made in point-of-care testing during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Understand how these advances can be leveraged to improve the quality of care, especially for remote and marginalised populations, reduce stresses on the healthcare system and provide early alerts of disease outbreaks