Reader Comments

Post a new comment on this article

Quality Control?

Posted by karl_tup on 14 May 2008 at 22:04 GMT

This is value work on an important problem, but I'm concerned that no quality control has been reported. Without QA/QC, how can one be sure that the large number of failing samples is not due to poor lab technique or a "bad" MiniLab? It would have been useful if tablets from "trusted" sources as well as some "blank" samples had been run along side the field samples. Without information on positive and negative controls, it's hard to assess the validity of the study.

RE: Quality Control?

PhilipCoticelli replied to karl_tup on 19 May 2008 at 15:23 GMT

The lead author, Dr. Roger Bate, ran 3-4 assays for each drug type on the controlled/"trusted" samples provided by the Minilab to ensure the provenance of both the tool and user. This is part of the expected protocol designed by GPHF for the Minilab, and hence we didn't mention it explicitly in the paper. See, for example: http://www.gphf.org/image...