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11Aug 2026
News & Updates | Advocacy Henry Kavuma Comments: 0

Uganda’s TB Gains Under Threat as Donor Funding Shrinks: A Call for Domestic Resolve

Uganda has made measurable progress in the fight against tuberculosis over the past decade but that progress is now at serious risk. A combination of shrinking international donor support and persistent structural gaps in health financing is threatening to reverse hard-won gains in TB diagnosis, treatment, and surveillance. A Funding Landscape Shifting Beneath Our Feet Globally, TB financing has stagnated at critically low levels. In 2024, only US$5.9 billion was available worldwide for TB preve...
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11Aug 2026
News, Training, Updates & Events Henry Kavuma Comments: 0

Uganda SRL/NTRL Hosts International TB Laboratory Training as Uganda Battles Over 10,000 Annual TB Deaths

The National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory (NTRL) is this week hosting laboratory managers and programme managers from 23 countries for a 5-day International External Quality Assessment (EQA) Training in Kampala, Uganda at NTRL. Its a milestone that underscores Uganda’s growing role as a regional leader in TB diagnostics. The training, which opened on August 10, 2026 at NTRL’s facility in Butabika, focuses on new diagnostic tools including Pluslife and extra, helping participatin...
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05Aug 2026
News, Training Henry Kavuma Comments: 0

Taking TB Diagnostics to the Frontline: NTRL Expert Trainer Pius Lutaya Leads Plus Life Installation and Training at Paidha HC III, Zombo District and Jupanziri HC III, Nebbi district (West Nile)

Tuberculosis does not stay within city limits. It does not wait for fully equipped referral hospitals. It spreads quietly in rural communities, in fishing villages, in border towns – in places like Paidha, Zombo District, where access to advanced TB diagnostics has historically been limited by distance, infrastructure, and resources. That is exactly why NTRL goes beyond. Today, NTRL expert trainer Mr. Pius Lutaya is on the ground at Paidha HC III, Zombo District and Jupanziri HC III, Nebbi...
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04Aug 2026
News, Training Henry Kavuma Comments: 0

Precision in the Fight Against TB: Kenneth Kisenyi Leads Truenat Plus Life Training During Regional EQA Capacity Building Mentorship

In the global fight against tuberculosis, accuracy is everything. A missed diagnosis means a missed life. A delayed result means a delayed treatment. And a poorly calibrated machine means that somewhere, a patient receives the wrong answer about one of the most treatable yet most deadly; infectious diseases on the planet. It is against this backdrop that the Proficiency Testing (PT) Scheme Coordinator at Uganda SRL/NTRL, Mr. Kenneth Kisenyi, took to the front of the training room during Regional...
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04Aug 2026
News Henry Kavuma Comments: 0

Ministry of Health Laboratory Department convenes at Hotel Africana, Kampala – strengthening collaboration for quality diagnostics across Uganda.

Uganda’s laboratory community came together on 3rd-08-2026 at Hotel Africana, Kampala, for a high-level joint meeting organised by the National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory (NTRL) and the Central Public Health Laboratories (CPHL) – two of Uganda’s most critical institutions under the Ministry of Health Laboratory Department. The meeting brought together laboratory professionals, programme managers, and health officials to review progress, align strategies, and strengthen c...
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30Jul 2026
News, Training Henry Kavuma Comments: 0

Beyond the Institution: NTRL Training Members Take TB Diagnostics Skills to Entebbe Regional Referral Hospital in Hands-On Field Experience

Learning in a reference laboratory is one thing. Applying that knowledge in a real hospital setting – where patients depend on accurate results every single day, is something else entirely. That is exactly what a group of trainees at the Uganda Supranational TB Reference Laboratory (SRL)/NTRL experienced when they visited Entebbe Regional Referral Hospital for an immersive field training session covering multiple laboratory sections, with a focused emphasis on TB diagnostics and the GeneXp...
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A group Photo taken in the Training room after Prof. Moses Joloba
30Jul 2026
News Henry Kavuma Comments: 0

Uganda SRL / NTRL Hosts Regional External Quality Assurance (EQA) Capacity Building Training

The training focuses on strengthening laboratory quality systems, TB drug susceptibility testing, and the validation of newly WHO-endorsed TB diagnostic technologies in preparation for implementation across participating countries....
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27Jul 2026
News, Training admin Comments: 0

Inside the Lab: How Uganda SRL/NTRL Internship Transforms Students into Confident TB Diagnostics Professionals

Every year, a select group of medical laboratory science and technology students walk through the doors of the Uganda SRL/NTRL and walk out fundamentally changed. What happens in between is not just an internship. It is an immersion into one of East Africa’s most respected diagnostic institutions, guided by some of the most experienced TB laboratory professionals on the continent. Hands-On from Day One From the very first day, interns at Uganda SRL/NTRL are placed at the bench – not...
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29Mar 2022
COVID-19, Testing admin Comments: 0

Adjustment in Operations at Uganda NTRL/SRL during the COVID-19 Threat Period

Download Uganda NTRL-SRL COVID Memo March 2020 The World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic which is rapidly spreading across many countries including Uganda. This therefore compelled the government of Uganda to institute necessary measures to control the spread of the virus and keep all Ugandans safe. The NTRL wishes to continue with service delivery as well as ensuring that all Presidential directives and Ministry of Health guidelines are strictly adhered to for the safety of all...
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20Apr 2020
Pandemic admin Comments: 0

Discussion: Considerations for and continuity of tuberculosis (TB) care during the COVID-19 pandemic

Following release of the World Health Organization (WHO) Information Note on considerations for tuberculosis (TB) care during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Uganda NTRL / WHO SRL Kampala organised and modulated a Zoom teleconference with laboratory managers and other laboratory staff to discuss the new guideline issued by WHO on considerations for TB care during the COVID-19 pandemic.The teleconference took place on Thursday, 9th April 2020 at 11:00am East Africa Time (EAT), and was attended by...
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