Russia Transfers Two New Mobile Laboratories to Republic of Congo to Support Infectious Disease Control

Brazzaville — Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) has transferred two advanced mobile laboratories to the Republic of Congo. During the second Russian-African Conference on Infectious Disease Control held in Brazzaville, a ceremony was organized where Rospotrebnadzor Head Anna Popova handed over the laboratory certificates to Congo’s Minister of Health and Population Jean-Roger Ibara.

The first laboratory is a mobile complex based on a GAZ off-road vehicle. It can operate effectively even in the most remote areas of the country, conducting up to 1,800 tests per day for 30 different infectious diseases, including rapid methods that deliver results within just 30 minutes.

The second mobile laboratory is a portable complex based on a pneumoframe (airframe) structure. Its key advantage is its exceptional compactness and ease of transportation — it can be disassembled and carried by any type of transport. This pneumoframe laboratory also offers high performance, capable of conducting over 1,300 tests using various methods.

The transfer of these mobile laboratory certificates is a continuation of successful cooperation between Russia and the Republic of Congo in the healthcare sector. In February 2025, a mobile laboratory based on a KAMAZ vehicle was also handed over to the country, which was successfully used to combat a cholera outbreak in August last year.

The pneumoframe laboratory has also demonstrated its effectiveness, playing a key role in containing an outbreak of intestinal infections in the Republic of Congo in 2023. In the city of Dolisie, the epicenter of the outbreak, Rospotrebnadzor epidemiologists and infectious disease specialists successfully organized anti-epidemic measures over four weeks. As a result of these comprehensive efforts, the incidence of dangerous intestinal infections decreased by 16 times.

Cooperation with the Ministry of Health and Population of the Republic of Congo in the field of infection prevention and control remains one of the key areas of Russian-Congolese humanitarian partnership. In recent years, Russia and Congo have been actively exchanging experience in epidemic control.