ISLAMABAD, Dec 18: A national HIV/Aids referral laboratory has been established at the National Institute of Health, which would be inaugurated by the Federal Minister for Health Mohammad Nasir Khan on Tuesday, spokesman of the Health Ministry said on Monday.

He said the laboratory was the first of its kind in the country, which had been established with the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). It would be associated with the International HIV/Aids Referral Laboratory, Ottawa, Canada for external quality assurance.

This laboratory would play a pivotal role in maintaining quality standards in the country by providing quality assurance of the laboratory diagnosis of HIV/Aids and other related sexually transmitted infections. He said the laboratory was an integral component of the national HIV/Aids prevention and control response and would serve as a hub for the disease related surveillance, research and training activities.

He said the laboratory would have the ability to serve as a first line of defence in the rapid recognition and prevention of HIV/Aids spread by serving in areas such as diagnosis of HIV infection through the detection of antibodies or viral genome by polymerase chain reaction PCR, examining specimens and analyzing tests results for the identification of HIV outbreaks, determining changes in the patterns of HIV transmission using molecular epidemiological tools, monitor adverse reactions to ARV drugs, diagnose HIV/Aids related opportunistic infections, perform CD4+T-cell determinations, perform viral load monitoring and monitor the resistance patterns, working as a key counterpart to HIV/Aids control and epidemiology units in the above services.

The services laboratory would perform as an academic centre in areas related to HIV/Aids laboratory support and would provide training to improve the scientific and technical skills of HIV laboratory staff, besides supporting the development of quality assurance programming for blood banks through the provision of training, consultation and proficiency testing.