WHO opens new doors for fast TB testing across Africa

The World Health Organization (WHO) is making it easier for countries to access advanced tuberculosis (TB) tests by expanding its official quality approval programme.

Since September 2026, manufacturers of specialised blood tests (interferon-gamma release assays, or IGRAs) and targeted gene-sequencing tools (targeted next-generation sequencing, or tNGS, assays) have been able to apply for WHO prequalification. This global mark of approval verifies the quality, safety and performance of diagnostic tools, giving health authorities and international buyers across Africa greater confidence in procuring and distributing them.

This policy update coincides with key advances in automated testing. Roche recently received a European quality mark for its Elecsys IGRA blood test, which screens for latent TB infection in just 19 minutes on automated laboratory systems. Meanwhile, the WHO has officially prequalified Roche’s cobas MTB-RIF/INH molecular test, which detects active TB disease while checking whether the bacteria are resistant to key treatments such as rifampicin and isoniazid.

For Celtic Molecular Diagnostics and other local diagnostic distributors and laboratory teams across Africa, these developments offer new opportunities to strengthen TB testing. Combining rapid blood-based screening with automated molecular tests can reduce manual laboratory workloads, deliver faster results to patients and support stronger healthcare systems across the continent.

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