Uganda commissions East Africa's first diagnostic test kit manufacturing plant
Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has commissioned the Microhaem Scientifics (MHS) diagnostic test kits manufacturing plant, the first of its kind in the East African region.
The plant will manufacture rapid diagnostic tests (RDT) for HIV, malaria, and other illnesses, saving the East African nation $100 million a year on test kit imports, State House Uganda said in a statement.
"I want to congratulate the Ugandan scientists for really waking up. It was only in 1865 that Louis Pasteur found out that there were other organs amongst us beyond the naked eye... He was able to see bacteria which cause fermentation in milk, the whole world didn't know there were other organisms around us… I thank scientists from the US and China for working with you," the President at the commissioning ceremony on November 28 said.
UNICEF, as of February 2023, has been acquiring malaria rapid diagnostic tests (mRDTs), since 2008 with an average of 10–11 million tests annually since 2011.
