GHESKIO Centers

The GHESKIO Center (Haitian Study Group on Kaposi’s Sarcoma and Opportunistic Infections) is dedicated to operational research, training and services for diseases having a major public health impact in Haiti, such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), sexually transmitted infections (STI) and diarrheal diseases. Established in 1982, it is the oldest center in the world devoted to the fight against AIDS. GHESKIO has become one of the largest centers for care and research on AIDS and tuberculosis in the Americas.

Diagnostic tests and research work are carried out in the GHESKIO laboratories at two sites in Port-au-Prince: at the GHESKIO-Institut National de Laboratoire et de Recherches (GHESKIO-INLR) at 33 boulevard Harry Truman in downtown Port-au-Prince, and the Institut des Maladies Infectieuses et de Santé de la Reproduction (GHESKIO-IMIS) north of the city near the international airport. In 2009, GHESKIO-IMIS was built with a larger clinical center that includes the Rodolphe Mérieux Laboratory, a research laboratory with Biosafety Level (BSL) 2+ and BSL 3 facilities.

The GHESKIO Laboratory staff includes a laboratory manager, a QA manager, a mycobacteriology director, a laboratory consultant, and clinical and vaccine research laboratory assistants. The technical staff includes 9 phlebotomists, 22 laboratory

technicians and technologists, 14 lead technologists, 3 biomedical engineers and 3 stock managers.

All laboratory personnel have completed the curriculum for Medical Laboratory Technology (MLT/MT) and received additional training and continuing education through bench training, conferences, seminars, workshops, and e-learning.

The GHESKIO Laboratory serves as Haiti’s national reference laboratory for HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted diseases, diarrheal diseases, and mycobacterial diseases. It plays a major role in research and training through its collaboration with local and international institutions and universities. The laboratory performs routine diagnostic assays, such as basic chemical analyses, liver function tests, complete blood counts, serological testing for HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis, smear and culture of mycobacteria, blood culture of bacteria and yeasts, stool microscopy of coccidia, routine parasitological examinations, and bacterial cultures.

The laboratory also performs research assays, including CD4/CD8 counts, viral load assays, isolation and cryopreservation of PBMCs, DNA/RNA amplification, and storage of serum, plasma, and mycobacterial strains for future testing and shipping. Due to the high volume of samples to process and the complexity of tests performed, we have upgraded our laboratory testing capacity from manual methods to automated and semi-automated methods wherever possible.

The quest for an AIDS vaccine has led to the introduction of new technologies and the upgrading of laboratory facilities. The laboratory has established a molecular diagnostics and flow cytometry laboratory to support vaccine and clinical trials.

The Centres GHESKIO Laboratory receives regular monitoring and audit visits (every 3-4 months) by PPD. In July 2018, the GHESKIO Laboratory became the first laboratory in Haiti to have been accredited thanks to the support of the Mérieux Foundation. The certificate was delivered by Accreditation Canada/QMentum International.

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