In 2007, BD initiated a partnership with PEPFAR and the CDC to strengthen the systems and skills necessary to improve diagnostic testing capabilities for HIV, TB and other diseases. As part of this program, called Labs For Life, BD deploys its associates, leveraging their laboratory quality expertise, to serve as mentors for laboratory staff on the ground. These efforts enable labs to progress toward internationally recognized accreditation and help scale up national laboratory standards and systems. In addition to traditional mentorships, the program also includes safer blood collection, specimen referral systems, equipment maintenance training and implementation of geographic information systems to enable better data analysis. The first phase of the partnership was completed in 2012, and results were recently published in the Supplement to the Journal of Infectious Diseases. In 2013, Phase 2 of the partnership was signed for another five years and is currently being implemented in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Mozambique, South Africa and India.