https://www.selleckchem.com/products/crenolanib-cp-868596.html Africa's readiness to respond to the SARS-COV-2 pandemic was tested due to reliance on rapid turn-around-time of polymerase chain reaction results for clinical management, isolation and quarantine decisions. The NHLS HIV Molecular Laboratory in Johannesburg, South Africa, is one of the largest automated HIV molecular laboratories worldwide. Despite its extensive molecular capacity and experience in managing high volumes acquired from a large HIV program, significant challenges were encountered during its rapid transition to large scale SARS-CoV-2 testing. We describe the strategies employed to manage these challenges that resulted in a 30% improvement in SARS-CoV-2 test turn-around-time during the first wave peak during which approximately 25000 samples were tested per month, and further improvement during the second wave peak, with 81% within targeted turn-around-time. Globally, drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) is the leading cause of death globally related to antimicrobial resistance, affecting 500,000 emergent cases annually. In 2018, the first United Nations High-Level Meeting (UNHLM) on tuberculosis declared DR-TB a global public health priority. Bold country targets were established for 2018-2022. This study reviews the DR-TB situation in 2018, and the UNHLM target accomplishments in 10 high-burden countries (HBCs). An ecological descriptive analysis of the top 10 DR-TB HBCs (Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Russian Federation, and South Africa), which share 70% of the global DR-TB burden, was undertaken, complemented by a cascade-of-care analysis and a survey gathering additional information on key advances and setbacks 2 years after the UNHLM declaration. Most countries are showing historic advances and are on track for the 2018 and 2019 targets. However, according to the cascade-of-care, none of the countries are capable of providing effective care