To describe key characteristics (laboratory quality, test volumes, and complexity) of clinical laboratories in Kampala, Uganda (population ~1.7 million).
Cross-sectional survey using a standard questionnaire to document laboratory type and quality, as well as test menus and volumes. Quality was based on the World Health Organization-Africa Region checklist.
Of the 954 laboratories identified (a density of one laboratory per 1,781 persons), 779 (82%) performed only simple kit tests or light microscope examinations. The 95% (907/954) of laboratories for whom volumes were obtained performed an average aggregate of 13,189 tests daily, for a test utilization rate of around 2 tests per individual per year. Laboratories could be segregated into eight groups based on quality, test volume, and complexity. However, 90% of the testing was performed by just two groups: (1) low-volume (≤100 tests daily), low-quality laboratories performing simple tests or (2) high-volume (>100 tests daily), high-quality laboratories. Each of these two groups did 45% of the daily testing volume (90% combined).
Clinical laboratory density in Kampala (1/1,781 persons) is high, approaching that in the United States (1/1,347 persons). Low-volume/low-quality and high-volume/high-quality laboratories do 90% of the daily aggregate testing. Quality improvement (QI) schemes for Africa must be appropriate to low-volume laboratories as well as to the large laboratories that have been the focus of previous QI efforts.