“Our work is noticed not when we do it, but when we stop doing it,” says Rashidbek Abdullaev, a virologist at the regional virology laboratory in Fergana, Uzbekistan. “If laboratories stop functioning, outbreaks spread faster, diseases go undetected and response measures come too late.”
Rashidbek is among the graduates of the first Global Laboratory Leadership Programme (GLLP) in Uzbekistan, an initiative designed to strengthen national laboratory systems and prepare a new generation of laboratory leaders capable of responding to future health emergencies.
The programme brings together specialists from human, animal and environmental health sectors under a One Health approach. The GLLP is implemented through a unique international collaboration involving the WHO, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Organisation for Animal Health, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and the Association of Public Health Laboratories.
Thinking critically, unlocking potential
The programme in Uzbekistan began in late 2024 by investing first in people who would guide the course participants. National facilitators and mentors underwent specialized training in mentorship approaches, competency self-assessment, planning and constructive feedback techniques, laying the groundwork for a sustainable learning network inside the country’s laboratory system.
In April 2026, 18 laboratory professionals successfully completed the programme across 9 core competencies, including leadership, biosafety, outbreak investigation, emergency preparedness, communication and research.
For Rashidbek, the GLLP became a platform that helped unlock his potential beyond day-to-day laboratory work, encouraging him not only to strengthen his technical and leadership skills, but also to take his ideas further into applied research. “The programme encouraged us not to stay within routine tasks, but to think critically, communicate, conduct research, and think of how to improve the system,” he says.
He applied to the GLLP after seeing an announcement on official sanepidcommittee (Committee for Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare and Public Health) social media pages. At the time, he expected another short training course or routine professional seminar. Instead, he encountered something different. “The programme showed us real problems openly,” he notes. “From the first sessions, we understood how much more we needed to learn and how important it is to work together across sectors.”
The programme brought together specialists from human health, veterinary services and plant health systems. “For the first time, we sat together as a genuine One Health team,” Rashidbek reports. “This was one of the biggest achievements of the GLLP in Uzbekistan.”
Laboratory leaders
During the programme, participants were required to complete applied projects linked to the challenges at the laboratories. Rashidbek chose a topic that had long concerned him: leadership culture within laboratory systems. He began conducting surveys across regional and district laboratories, interviewing both staff and managers about communication, workplace dynamics and decision-making practices. The surveys explored how leaders handled real-life workplace situations.
“I wanted to understand why many problems are still viewed only from one side,” he explains.
Initially, he saw the project simply as a graduation requirement. Then, during his final presentation, Joanna Salvi Le Garrec, Technical Officer for Strengthening Laboratory Systems at WHO/Europe and one of the GLLP facilitators, told him the topic was timely and deserved to go further.
“Honestly, I had never planned to write an article,” Rashidbek says. “But after that discussion, I promised I would continue.”
He expanded the project into applied research and successfully published his work in a scientific journal, turning a coursework assignment into a contribution to professional knowledge in Uzbekistan’s laboratory sector. For him this publication became proof that laboratory professionals in Uzbekistan can move beyond technical functions into leadership, mentorship and research.
“I stopped being afraid of failure”
Today, Rashidbek is working to adapt GLLP materials into simpler, more practical formats for regional and district laboratory specialists. The original training materials were based on international WHO resources and global competency frameworks. He now wants to make those concepts easier to understand and apply at the local level. His goal is to help laboratory managers across the Fergana region gradually strengthen leadership, communication and emergency preparedness practices through mentorship.
“We learned from global experts,” he says. “Now we need to translate that knowledge into our local context so specialists in regions, districts and even small laboratories can use it.” The work reflects one of the GLLP objectives: building sustainable national laboratory systems by investing not only in infrastructure, but in people.
Looking back, Rashidbek says the programme changed his professional skills and his confidence. After several modules and national-level discussions, including visits to the Senate, he began seeing himself differently.
“I stopped being afraid of failure,” he says. “I understood that growth has no limit. What matters is not which stage we are at, but whether we continue moving forward.”
As Uzbekistan continues to strengthen preparedness for future outbreaks and health emergencies, programmes like the GLLP are helping build a new generation of laboratory leaders: professionals who not only diagnose diseases, but also improve systems, mentor others and generate evidence through research.