QASI®-OA (Quality Assessment and Standardization of Indicators relevant to EBOV–Outbreak Alert)

QASI, the Public Health Agency of Canada’s International Program for Quality Assessment and Standardization of Indicators relevant to HIV/AIDS is located at the National HIV and Retrovirology Laboratories in Winnipeg, Canada. QASI has provided external quality assurance (EQA) for HIV-related testing on both conventional and point-of-care (POC) platforms for over 20 years.

QASI-OA launched in 2019 and is intended to ensure and maintain quality testing practices for Ebola Virus Disease detection and reporting at designated Ebola Treatment Centers and POC sites using the Xpert® Ebola Assay kit.

QASI-OA provides extensive feedback in the form of assessment reports and direct dialogue to address non-conformances and provide corrective and preventative action recommendations intended to create sustainable quality testing standards for participants.

Frequency of distribution:  The QASI-OA scheme will consist of a 4-specimen proficiency-testing panel administered four times a year.

To ensure and maintain quality testing practices for Ebola Virus Disease detection and reporting at designated Ebola Treatment Centers and POC sites using the Xpert® Ebola Assay kit.

There is no fee to enrol or participate in the QASI-OA program.

Eligible participants are POC  sites actively performing testing for Ebola Virus using the Xpert® Ebola Assay kit on the GeneXpert® system.

Confidentiality of testing results and performance is maintained using a password protected online database and numerical IDs to distinguish testing sites.

Please contact qasi@canada.ca to apply for any of our EQA programs.