Developing countries in pursuit of analytical quality control: the need for appropriate reference materials

Summary In a special session dedicated to problems of Analytical Quality Assurance (AQA) in Developing Countries (DC), the participants of BERM-5 had an opportunity to hear of the difficulties routinely encountered in many laboratories in these countries. Participants from Chile, China, Ghana, India, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand were invited to share the platform during this special session. The salient features of discussions that took place are summarized in this report and will not therefore be reported elsewhere.