CV

Policy impact

Evidence that shifted WHO guidance.

On 9 March 2026, the World Health Organization issued its first recommendations on near-point-of-care molecular TB tests, tongue swabs, and sputum pooling. The Cameroon evidence streams I ran as Country Data Manager for Start4All and Data Manager for TB Reach Wave 10 Cameroon sit in the evidence chain behind those recommendations.

71,328

sputum specimens in the 2026 preprint (16 GeneXpert labs, 6 regions)

38,326

additional people tested via pooling vs individual testing

$2.81

per pooled result — vs $7.97 for individual GeneXpert testing

The numbers

Why pooled testing is cited in WHO guidance

Two charts that together tell the cost story (per-result savings) and the operational reach story (geographic distribution) behind the 2026 sputum-pooling preprint.

Cost per molecular TB result

Pooled testing cuts unit cost by 65%

Source: Mbuh NN et al. (2026) openRxiv preprint · 71,328 specimens · 16 GeneXpert labs in Cameroon

Individual testing
Standard 1 cartridge per result
Pooled testing
0.35 cartridges per result · pools of 2–8

Geographic reach

16 GeneXpert laboratories across 6 of 10 regions of Cameroon

Sputum specimens collected and pooled at each lab between October 2023 and March 2025

Plus an additional 9 regions added through TB Reach Wave 11 community screening — covering 7 regions for the QR-code patient tracking system (365+ facilities) and 8 regions for the Wave 11 health-camps programme.

In their words

What the institutions are saying.

“New recommendations on near-point-of-care molecular tests, tongue swabs, and sputum pooling for TB diagnosis.”

World Health Organization

News release · 9 March 2026

Source
“Start4All evidence informed WHO's new pooled-testing guidance — working with Stop TB Partnership across seven high-burden countries including Cameroon.”

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

News release · 27 February 2026

Source
“Pooled Testing for Tuberculosis Works and Saves Money — 10 years of Stop TB / TB REACH Investments Show That!”

Stop TB Partnership

Feature article · 26 February 2026

Source

From colleagues and partners

Named endorsements.

Personal references from PIs, programme leads, and direct collaborators. Quotes added as endorsements are confirmed.

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  • Quote pending — endorsement to be added once confirmed.

    Principal Investigator

    Awaiting endorsement · Start4All / TB REACH

  • Quote pending — endorsement to be added once confirmed.

    Programme Lead

    Awaiting endorsement · Multi-country research

  • Quote pending — endorsement to be added once confirmed.

    Direct collaborator

    Awaiting endorsement · Field implementation

Timeline

From field to WHO guidance.

  1. 2023 – 2025 · Cameroon implementation

    Pooled-testing programme at 16 GeneXpert laboratories

    As Country Data Manager for Start4All and Data Manager for TB Reach Wave 10, I ran the data systems behind Cameroon's large-scale TB pooled-testing implementation — 71,328 specimens tested across 16 GeneXpert laboratories in 6 regions.

  2. Feb – Jun 2025 · Diagnostic accuracy study

    Near-POC and tongue-swab evidence generated

    Data management for the 1,097-participant diagnostic accuracy study on Pluslife MiniDock MTB and Molbio MTB Ultima assays — sputum-swab sensitivity 79–91% and field operation at 35–40 °C with solar power.

  3. 19 Nov 2025 · Union 2025

    Presented AI-guided pooled testing at Union World Conference

    E-Poster EP10-793-19 (Copenhagen): 2,183 specimens under CXR-AI + pooled testing with a 45% cartridge reduction in community case-finding.

    Union 2025 abstract

  4. 2025 · Scientific Reports

    HIV viral-load pooling published in Scientific Reports

    Co-author (3rd of 14) on the peer-reviewed evaluation of Abbott RealTime HIV-1 VL pooled testing — 12,396 specimens, +80% capacity, 0.01% misclassification.

    DOI 10.1038/s41598-025-92709-y

  5. 2025 · Clinical Infectious Diseases

    Near-POC TB diagnostics paper in CID

    Co-author (7th) on the Pluslife MiniDock MTB / Molbio MTB Ultima study in Clinical Infectious Diseases — core evidence for WHO's 2026 near-POC and tongue-swab recommendations.

    DOI 10.1093/cid/ciaf709

  6. 27 Feb 2026 · LSTM

    LSTM commentary on Start4All

    Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine publicly reported that Start4All evidence informed WHO's new pooled-testing guidance — working with Stop TB Partnership across seven high-burden countries, including Cameroon.

    LSTM news release

  7. 26 Feb 2026 · Stop TB Partnership

    Stop TB celebrates 10 years of TB REACH pooled-testing investments

    Stop TB Partnership welcomed WHO's rapid communication on pooled testing and credits the Unitaid-funded Start4All project (LSTM-led) and a decade of TB REACH investment that supported eight partners across five countries. The feature singles out Cameroon's TB REACH-supported intervention across the national laboratory network — the programme I served as Country Data Manager (Start4All) and Data Manager (TB Reach Wave 10). Cameroon NTP Manager Dr Noah Appolonie: pooled testing has delivered "more access to testing at lower costs for the last 5 years".

    Stop TB Partnership — 26 Feb 2026

  8. 9 Mar 2026 · WHO

    WHO issues updated TB diagnostic recommendations

    WHO announced its first recommendations on near-point-of-care molecular tests, tongue swabs, and sputum pooling for TB diagnosis — drawing on evidence streams from Start4All and TB Reach Wave 10 Cameroon.

    WHO news release, 9 March 2026

  9. 23 Mar 2026 · openRxiv

    First-author sputum-pooling preprint posted

    First & corresponding author on the openRxiv preprint Implementation of pooled testing of sputum specimens for rapid molecular detection of tuberculosis in Cameroon — 71,328 specimens, 38,326 additional people tested, $2.81 per result pooled vs $7.97 individual.

    DOI 10.64898/2026.03.20.26348676

Institutional anchors

Verifiable sources.

Every claim on this site links back to an external source — WHO, LSTM, Stop TB Partnership, The Union, or a peer-reviewed DOI.

  • World Health Organization

    First recommendations on near-point-of-care TB tests, tongue swabs, and sputum pooling (9 March 2026).

    View source

  • Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine

    Start4All evidence informed WHO's new pooled-testing guidance (27 February 2026).

    View source

  • Stop TB Partnership — 26 Feb 2026 feature

    "Pooled Testing for Tuberculosis Works and Saves Money — 10 years of Stop TB/TB REACH Investments Show That!" Welcomes WHO's rapid communication on pooled testing; credits the Unitaid-funded Start4All project (LSTM-led) and ten years of TB REACH investment supporting eight partners in five countries; highlights Cameroon's TB REACH-supported intervention across the national laboratory network. Pooling extends cartridge availability "by up to two times".

    View source

  • Stop TB Partnership — TB Reach Wave 10 grantee

    Bamenda Center for Health Promotion and Research listed as Cameroon grantee for TB Reach Wave 10.

    View source

  • The Union World Conference on Lung Health 2025

    E-Poster EP10-793-19 — CXR-AI + pooled testing in community case-finding in Cameroon.

    View source