Status of biosafety and biosecurity performance after five years of implementation in a laboratory network in Tanzania: A need for targeted multisectoral capacity building

Background Laboratory biosafety and biosecurity (BSBS) measures are vital for addressing global biological health security threats. Tanzania conducted the first Joint External Evaluation (JEE) of core capacities under the International Health Regulations (2005) in 2016, highlighting limited capacity in BSBS indicators. Objective : This study was designed to assess and compare biosafety and biosecurity implementation across medical, research, veterinary and blood transfusion centre laboratories in Tanzania to understand the progress of implementation and highlight the relative strengths of practices and variations. Methods The study was conducted in March 2021 across 57 laboratories in 10 regions using a checklist covering all levels of the laboratory network. The checklist comprised 24 BSBS categories. Data were analysed using Microsoft Excel. Results The overall performance of biosafety and biosecurity practices was 50.5%, with a range of 28.5% (veterinary laboratories) to 70.0% (NBTS laboratories). The category with the highest score was the laboratory storage area (81.0%), while the lowest score was obtained by physical work environment (17.0%). Of the 24 categories, only 8 (33.3%) scored above the minimum threshold and 55.0% scored at a satisfactory level. A majority of laboratories (28, 49.1%) scored <55%, which was unsatisfactory. Only 1 (1.8%) laboratory scored, meeting most elements. The overall implementation was significantly higher for biosafety practices than for biosecurity practices (50.4% vs 28.8%, p = 0.004). Biosafety practices in medical laboratories (61%), NBTS laboratories (75%), national laboratories (65.5%), zonal laboratories (71.5%) and regional laboratories (67.6%) were found to be satisfactory (above the cut-off point). Only the national laboratories had a performance score (65.5%) above the minimum threshold. Conclusion BSBS implementation across laboratory networks in Tanzania is relatively low, with significant variation by laboratory type and level. The implementation of biosafety and biosecurity measures is unbalanced, with a greater focus on biosafety.