FAO laboratory mapping tool results analysis for veterinary laboratories from 2012 to 2020: Highlights of the gaps, the strengths across Southeast Asia and implications for capacity building activities

Morgane Gourlaouen^1*Stuart Dean Blacksell^2,3,4Khanh Le Kim²Christopher J Morrissy^2,4Wantanee Kalpravidh^1,4Kachen Wongsathapornchai⁴Paolo Motta⁴Asfri Rangkuti⁴Gwenaelle Dauphin¹Lidewij Wiersma¹Thao Tran²Luca Porfiri⁴Beatrice Virginie Rodrigues Mouille¹Filip Claes^4*

• ¹Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy
• ²Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Bangkok, Thailand
• ³University of Oxford Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Oxford, United Kingdom
• ⁴Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand

The FAO of the UN developed the Laboratory Mapping Tool (FAO-LMT) Core module to assess the general capacities and capabilities of central veterinary laboratories. Assessments performed with the LMT-Core provide a map of the strengths and the gaps of the laboratory functionalities to define adapted mechanisms and targets for capacity-building activities to fill the measured gaps. The FAO-LMT Core analyses 108 parameters divided into 17 sub-categories distributed in 5 areas. This article presents the results of FAO-LMT Core evaluations from 32 national and sub-national laboratories across 10 Southeast Asian countries from 2012 to 2020. These results create a baseline for improving, upgrading, and investing in veterinary laboratories for enhanced diagnosis of animal diseases and zoonosis. They also provide a useful and objective insight into the main constraints faced by veterinary laboratories in Southeast Asia. All data from the 32 laboratories in the 10 countries have been reviewed, summarized, and analyzed country-by-country. The results were analyzed from a regional perspective; The 32 laboratories obtained an overall high result for the LMT-Core with a mean value of 60%. The five areas of the FAO-LMT Core all had average scores above 50% further confirming the acceptable results of the laboratories. Many demonstrated a steady increase in the laboratory functionality of veterinary diagnostic laboratories. Laboratories already at a relatively higher level have managed to maintain their status, and those specifically targeted by support programs have increased their scores significantly. Efforts and investments in the laboratories included in this study have impacted the routine activity of these facilities, and the LMT-Core module can be applied to monitor the progress objectively and in a harmonized manner; the importance of applying a standardized questionnaire is undeniable. It is crucial for the bright future of the ASEAN region to maintain the current regional programs on quality assurance and biosafety/biosecurity, to encourage the various governments to ensure access to an adequate laboratory budget, to develop a veterinary laboratory policy and to link this policy to the ASEAN regional framework for laboratory capacity building and networking in ASEAN. It will help ensure the sustainable development of veterinary laboratories within ASEAN.