The World Health Organization is supporting a five day theoretical and bench training of laboratory scientists and technologists on identification of bacterial pathogens, at the Central Public Health Reference Laboratory (CPHRL) in Freetown. Participants were drawn from the CPHRL, main referral hospitals and regional laboratories in the country. The objectives of the training are to strengthen the capacity of the staff on laboratory iso-lation, identification and characterization of causative agents of bacterial meningitis and enteric diseases, and to conduct antimicrobial susceptibility testing.