Pathology Laboratory Equipment and Diagnostic Capacity in Eastern DRC, 2023

A multi-site study from February to April 2023 evaluated the infrastructure and diagnostic capacity of pathology laboratories in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Data collected by Tshass Chasinga Baharanyi shows a concentration of services in urban areas of 3 provinces, leaving over 26.8 million people in 9 provinces without diagnostic coverage. The 9.5 KB dataset likely contains information on equipment, human resources, and diagnostic performance.

Use Cases

• Assess regional disparities in laboratory coverage based on the reported concentration in 3 provinces.
• Analyze the prevalence of specific cancer diagnoses based on reported percentages for cervical, prostate, breast, and colorectal cancers.
• Evaluate gaps in specialized diagnostic services based on the reported lack of immunohistochemistry and fine-needle aspiration procedures.

Strengths

• Data collection period is explicitly defined as February to April 2023.
• The description provides specific quantitative findings, such as 73.4% of samples being histopathology and 41.2% of diagnoses being inflammatory/infectious lesions.
• The dataset has a clear, open license (CC-BY-4.0).

Limitations

• The dataset is very small (9.5 KB), indicating a limited scope of data points.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

figshare, author Tshass Chasinga Baharanyi.

Collection Method

A mixed methods approach was used to analyse laboratory equipment, human resources and diagnostic performance.

Time Range

Data collected from February to April 2023.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-18 17:38:03; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, specifically South Kivu, North Kivu, and Haut Katanga provinces.