Microsoft Word 02Preface doc

participation in the EPI Programme, Polio Eradication Programme, and HIV sentinel 
survey. A series of JICA technical cooperation activities targeted Viral Diarrhoea, Acute 
Respiratory Infections (ARI), Hepatitis, Polioviruses and other Enteroviruses, Measles, 
HIV/AIDS, and TB.
 
As a result of the evaluation of the Infectious Diseases Control 
Project, JICA judged that the Virology Laboratory and the TB Laboratory had already 
acquired 
the 
diagnostic technology for the target diseases in the initial stage of 
cooperation, namely, for diarrhoea, ARI, Hepatitis, polio, and measles. Thus, since 2001, 
JICA has focused the targets of cooperation on HIV/AIDS and TB, which have 
comprised the foremost public health problem in Zambia. 
Both laboratories have worked to establish a national surveillance network for measles 
through JICA assistance and have contributed to establishing the diagnostic capability 
for infectious diseases in Zambia; for instance, by conducting external quality assurance 
for HIV and tuberculosis tests.  In addition, they contribute to infectious diseases 
control with respect to health services, including the provision of training for medical 
personnel in regional laboratories, the diagnosis of specimens, external quality assurance, 
and so on.  Moreover, the Virology Laboratory has an important role in infectious 
diseases control as the WHO inter-country reference laboratory for Polio and a reference 
laboratory for measles and influenza, not only for the nation, but also for the 
surrounding countries.  Through a series of analyses based on the positioning, 
functions, and effects of JICA cooperation with the UTH Virology Laboratory and 
Tuberculosis Laboratory, the expected roles of the UTH Virology Laboratory and 
Tuberculosis Laboratory in the future can be summarized as follows in terms of three 
functions.  (1) To strengthen research on HIV and tuberculosis, which is a type of 
opportunistic infectious disease, at a time when the diffusion of anti-retrovirus therapy 
has become an increasingly critical issue, by adopting the global 3 by 5 ART, in addition 
to its existing research on related diseases in the Expanded Programme on Immunization, 
(2) To hasten the provision of medical personnel dealing with HIV testing in provincial 
and county hospitals and VCTs as part of human resources development for HIV/AIDS 

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control, and, moreover, to establish an experimental and diagnostic system capable of 
contributing to HIV/AIDS control with ART, in cooperation with the research and 
human resources development mentioned above.