In Haiti, getting quality care often starts with a simple test. Behind every sample analyzed in Zanmi Lasante’s laboratories, there is a medical decision that becomes clearer, a treatment that can start, a life that can change. In a context where access to healthcare remains fragile, these tests are becoming an essential link in the healthcare pathway.
Zanmi Lasante’s network of laboratories extends across the Centre and Bas-Artibonite departments. It comprises 12 main laboratories, 4 satellites and mobilizes nearly 200 professionals. Every month, over 140,000 tests are carried out for some 30,000 patients. These are numbers, yes, but above all they are clinical decisions, concrete answers, adapted treatments that can finally begin.
“The network’s laboratories can save lives,” simply sums up Ms Hilaire Nadège, network coordinator. This phrase reflects the daily work of the medical technologists, technicians and phlebotomists, present in every corner of the network. Despite sometimes very difficult conditions, they work rigorously to guarantee reliable and rapid results, essential for quality care.
Their work, discreet but fundamental, is a key part of the equitable healthcare system that Zanmi Lasante is striving to build. In the quiet corridors of the laboratories, far from the operating theatres, another form of health struggle is being organized. Every tube, every slide, every result means a patient waiting, a clinician acting, a decision that counts.
Thanks to this network, diagnostic services cover a broad spectrum: biochemistry, hematology, microbiology, anatomopathology… and enable concrete advances in HIV screening, tuberculosis management, monitoring of chronic diseases such as diabetes or hypertension, or cancer detection.
The network has also distinguished itself by its ability to adapt in times of crisis. During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was one of the first in Haiti to deploy Xpert technology for rapid diagnostics. In Saint-Marc, a monitoring database was developed to improve the health response. Since 2017, the anatomopathology laboratory has been strengthened, and the arrival of telepathology in 2020 has opened up access to specialized diagnosis to thousands of patients, even in the most isolated areas.
But the challenges are still there: instability, insecurity, supply difficulties. Despite everything, the teams remain upright, committed and present. Because they know that every test counts.
Zanmi Lasante has made a strategic choice: investing in laboratory services means investing in the real impact on patients’ lives. The organization is currently working to strengthen regional laboratories, secure the supply chain, develop new specialized services and continually train its staff.
Every improvement, every additional test performed under the right conditions, is one less barrier for patients. It’s a silent but essential victory. It’s one more step towards a fairer healthcare system.
Every test performed in our laboratories brings a patient closer to treatment and a chance of recovery. Support our teams by making a donation.