A practical guide to the sensible selection and procurement of basic laboratory equipment and consumables when resources are limited. Arguing that buyers get the best deal when they know as much, if not more, than the seller, the book sets out a wealth of guidelines and advice in the form of checklists, flowcharts, model forms and letters, equipment specifications, performance tests, and abundant tips and warnings. Information is addressed to laboratory staff who use, maintain, and repair equipment as well as to those who make purchasing decisions. Details range from tests for determining whether equipment lives up to its advertised claims, through a table showing the expected life of essential spare parts for a refrigerator, to tips for avoiding the tricks of high pressure selling. Throughout, the authors use a lively and engaging style to give readers the competence - and confidence - needed to make wise purchasing decisions. The book has eight chapters presented in three parts. Part one, on choosing and buying laboratory equipment, opens with a step-by-step guide to the factors to consider when making purchasing decisions. Particular attention is given to the role of quotations and the questions that should be asked when deciding which offer is best. Chapter two, on the buying business, explains the importance of suitability, reliability, timely delivery, and cost in the procurement process. Chapter three addresses common consumer problems, offering advice on when to lodge complaints and how to secure reimbursements for faulty equipment. Subsequent chapters outline the do's and don'ts of equipment care, describe the precautions to take when purchasing second-hand equipment, and offer guidance on the selection of minor equipment and consumables. The most extensive chapter, printed on yellow pages, is a 62-page buyer's guide to the selection of sixteen major equipment items for intermediate and peripheral laboratories. For each, information includes a quick reference guide indicating the questions to consider when making decisions, technical specifications and requirements, including spare parts, methods for testing performance, and a model form for assessing quotations. Part two covers energy sources and requirements, safeguards against power disturbances, and problems that may arise with specific energy sources, such as hand power, combustion powered generators, batteries, and solar energy systems. Additional reference tools are provided in the final part, which includes detailed examples of equipment data specification sheets; sample forms for ordering equipment, reporting problems, and securing quotations; advice on how to anticipate and avoid problems with donated equipment; precautions when ordering and transporting chemicals, reagents, stains, and dehydrated media; addresses of equipment manufacturers; and a list of non-profit and low profit suppliers of both second-hand and new equipment.

A 'how-to' book for medical aid workers - doctors, nurses and paramedics - working in hostile environments (natural disasters, man-made disasters, conflict in all its forms and remote or austere industrial settings). This manual provides information on what is going on, how to get involved, how to get ready, guidance on what to do out there, and how to get home bridging the fields of medicine, nursing international relations, politics, economics and history.

Changes in the organization of health services in developing countries have led to the district level assuming more responsibility for the planning, delivery and quality of community health care. This fully up-dated new edition has been produced to help those working in the district laboratory, and those responsible for the organization and management of community laboratory services and the training of district laboratory personnel. Replacing the previous publication Medical Laboratory Manual for Tropical Countries, this book provides an up-to-date practical bench manual, taking a modern approach to the provision of a quality medical laboratory service. It includes practical accounts of: organization and staffing of district laboratory services; total quality management; health and safety; equipping district laboratories; parasitological tests, illustrated in colour; clinical chemistry tests; how to plan a training curriculum for district laboratory personnel. Volume 2, published in late 1999, covers microbiological tests, haematological tests and blood transfusion tests.

This field manual is intended to help health professionals and public health coordinators working in emergency situations prevent, detect and control the major communicable diseases encountered by affected populations. The manual is the result of collaboration among a number of WHO departments and several external partner agencies in reviewing existing guidelines on communicable disease control and adapting them to emergency situations. The manual deals with the fundamental principles of communicable disease control in emergencies, which are: Rapid assessment to identify the communicable disease threats faced by the emergency-affected population, including those with epidemic potential, and define the health status of the population by conducting a rapid assessment; Prevention to prevent communicable disease by maintaining a healthy physical environment and good general living conditions; Surveillance to set up or strengthen disease surveillance system with an early warning mechanism to ensure the early reporting of cases to monitor disease trends, and to facilitate prompt detection and response to outbreaks; outbreak control to ensure outbreaks are rapidly detected and controlled through adequate preparedness (i.e. stockpiles, standard treatment protocols and staff training) and rapid response (i.e.confirmation, investigation and implementation of control measures); and disease management to diagnose and treat cases promptly with trained staff using effective treatment and standard protocols at all health facilities.

For more than 65 years, this best-selling text by Drs. Barbara J. Bain, Imelda Bates, and Mike A. Laffan has been the worldwide standard in laboratory haematology. The 12th Edition of Dacie and Lewis Practical Haematology continues the tradition of excellence with thorough coverage of all of the techniques used in the investigation of patients with blood disorders, including the latest technologies as well as traditional manual methods of measurement. You'll find expert discussions of the principles of each test, possible causes of error, and the interpretation and clinical significance of the findings. - A unique section on haematology in under-resourced laboratories. - Ideal as a laboratory reference or as a comprehensive exam study tool. - diagnosis, molecular testing, blood transfusion- and much more. - Complete coverage of the latest advances in the field. - An expanded section on coagulation now covers testing for new anticoagulants and includes clinical applications of the tests.

This second edition of the highly successful "Basics of Quality Assurance for Intermediate and Peripheral Laboratories" has been revised to better meet the needs of laboratory specialists, technologists and technicians at the front line of quality assurance. Chapters on quality assurance during the pre-analytical phases, control of laboratory investigations, data handling and processing, laboratory management and organization, use and maintenance of laboratory equipment, safety precautions in the laboratory, and external quality assessment, have been revised and updated, and are supplemented by a new chapter on comparability of results. The annex on statistics and the glossary have also been substantially revised. It is expected that this much needed publication will be of interest to developing countries throughout the world.