The National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) supports South Africa’s national and provincial health departments by providing laboratory services, research, teaching and training. With laboratories across all nine provinces, it is the sole provider of diagnostic pathology services to the country’s public sector. Its testing and monitoring services include CD4 testing, HIV viral-load studies, HIV treatment monitoring, genotyping, tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment monitoring, and cervical cancer screening. The service also offers paternity testing, microbiology testing and diagnostic media products, and produces sera for anti-snake venom.

NHLS conducts research in pathology and disease surveillance, focusing on health priorities such as HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, pneumococcal infections, occupational health, cervical cancer screening and malnutrition. Its teaching programme trains medical technologists and technicians in partnership with universities of technology, while pathology and public health departments at medical and dental schools support the training of undergraduate and postgraduate health professionals. Through quality assurance, proficiency testing and specialised programmes, NHLS contributes to diagnostic capacity and healthcare delivery nationwide.