Diagnostics and Laboratory Technology

External quality assessment schemes for haematology

The WHO EQAS for Haematology is distributed to 80 laboratories in 58 WHO member states by the WHO Collaborating Centre based within UK National External Quality Assessment Scheme (UKNEQAS) located at Watford General Hospital, UK.

The scheme assesses the ability of the laboratory to correctly quantify the haemoglobin level and the number of white blood cells (WBC) and platelets. In addition, blood film slides are provided to either determine the percentage of reticulocytes, differential and cell morphology and to identify blood parasite species.

Recent EQAS distributions observed extremely poor results on malarial identification. Hence, a refresher training course is in the organisational stages in order to address the issue.

Related links

WHO Collaborating Centre web sites