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Some 1500 laboratory professionals, clinicians, program managers, epidemiologists, researchers, students, and policy makers will convene in Cape Town, South Africa from December 1-7, 2012 for the First International Conference of the African Society for Laboratory Medicine (ASLM).

The objective of this meeting is to convene healthcare professionals and policy makers from Africa and around the world to present and discuss the latest developments and initiatives for strengthening national laboratory health systems and networks, diagnostics, and their impact on healthcare delivery and disease surveillance.
Click here for the conference Program-at-a-Glance.

The conference will address a wide range of laboratory-related subject areas with particular emphasis on: translation of laboratory knowledge, practices, and technologies into clinical care; the interface of laboratory with medical science; laboratory-based epidemiology; and laboratory investigations and evidence-based effectiveness in real world settings.

Specifically, the conference will provide a forum for:

• Problem-solving to improve access to, regulation of, and policy regarding quality point of care laboratory diagnostics for quality health care in Africa and elsewhere.
• Discussing ways to strengthen laboratory-based surveillance, biosafety, and biosecurity, and to reduce antimicrobial resistance.
• Prioritizing and enhancing mobilization and utilization of resources for local capacity.
• Operationalizing laboratory research to meet evolving disease needs in the 21st century.
• Exchanging knowledge, skills, and best practices to improve access to high quality laboratory services.
• Sharing experiences on establishing functional laboratory networks for disease-specific needs and for multiple diseases.

ASLM2012 will feature plenary sessions, oral and poster presentations, and symposia. The official languages of the meeting are English, French, and Portuguese and simultaneous translation will be available during the plenary sessions.

At the completion of this meeting, participants should be able to:

1. Assess their individual efforts in light of the most current knowledge and information about laboratory medicine.
2. Incorporate best practices emerging from laboratory, clinical, and epidemiological research and implementation science into their professional endeavours.
3. Translate the latest laboratory and clinical evidence into making progress towards the advancement of professional laboratory medicine practice, science, systems, and networks in Africa.