U.S. Military Public Health Surveillance and Response to Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1)

SUMMARYThe A(H1N1) influenza pandemic has been a challenge for public health surveillance systems in all countries. An objective evaluation has not been conducted, as yet, of the performance of those systems during the pandemic. This paper presents an algorithm based on Benford's Law and the mortality ratio in order to evaluate the quality of the data and the sensitivity of surveillance systems. It analyses records of confirmed cases reported to the Pan American Health Organization by its 35 member countries between epidemiological weeks 13 and 47 in 2009. Seventeen countries did not fulfil Benford's Law, and mortality exceeded the regional average in 40% of the countries. The results suggest uneven performance by surveillance systems in the different countries, with the most frequent problem being low diagnostic coverage. Benford's Law proved to be a useful tool for the evaluation of a public health surveillance system's performance.

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Features of the new pandemic influenza A/H1N1/2009 virus: virology, epidemiology, clinical and public health aspects

Current Opinion in Pulmonary Medicine ◽

10.1097/mcp.0b013e3283375727 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 16 (3) ◽

pp. 235-241 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Julian W Tang ◽

Nandini Shetty ◽

Tommy Tsan-Yuk Lam

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Pandemic Influenza ◽

Influenza A ◽

Influenza A H1n1

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P1-147 Following public health protocols during 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1)

Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health ◽

10.1136/jech.2011.142976d.40 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 65 (Suppl 1) ◽

pp. A107-A107

Author(s):

S. Fernandez-Arribas ◽

E. Lopez-Garcia ◽

A. Perez-Rubio ◽

C. Ruiz-Sopena ◽

H. Marcos-Rodriguez

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Pandemic Influenza ◽

Influenza A ◽

Influenza A H1n1

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Electronic Reporting of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response: Lessons Learned from Northeast, Nigeria, 2019.

10.21203/rs.3.rs-48119/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Luka Mangveep Ibrahim ◽

Ifeanyi Okudo ◽

Mary Stephen ◽

Opeayo Ogundiran ◽

Jerry Shitta Pantuvo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Disease Surveillance ◽

Public Health Surveillance ◽

Health Surveillance ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Health Facilities ◽

Supportive Supervision ◽

Electronic Reporting ◽

Surveillance And Response ◽

Word Clouds

Abstract Background: Electronic reporting of integrated disease surveillance and response (eIDSR) was implemented in two states in North-East Nigeria as an innovative strategy to improve disease reporting. Its objectives were to improve the timeliness and completeness of IDSR reporting by health facilities, prompt identification of public health events, timely information sharing, and public health action. We evaluated the project to determine whether it met its set objectives.Method: We conducted a cross-sectional study to assess and document the lessons learned from the project. We reviewed the performance of the Local Government Areas (LGAs) on rumors identification and reporting of IDSR data on the eIDSR and the traditional system using a checklist. Respondents were interviewed online on the relevance; efficiency; sustainability; project progress and effectiveness; effectiveness of management; and potential impact and scalability of the strategy using structured questionnaires. Quantitative data were analyzed and presented as proportions using an MS Excel spreadsheet. Qualitative data was cleaned, converted into an MS Excel database, and analyzed using Epi Info version 7.2 to obtain frequencies. Responses were also presented as direct quotes or word clouds.Results: The number of health facilities reporting IDSR increased from 103 to 228 (117%) before and after implementation of the eIDSR respectively. The completeness of IDSR reports in the last six months before the evaluation was ≥ 85%. Of the 201 rumors identified and verified, 161 (80%) were from the eIDSR pilot sites. The majority of the stakeholders interviewed believed that eIDSR met its predetermined objectives for public health surveillance. The benefits of eIDSR included timely reporting and response to alerts and disease outbreaks, improved completeness, and timeliness of reporting, and supportive supervision to the operational levels. The strategy helped the stakeholders to appreciate their roles in public health surveillance.Conclusion: The eIDSR increased the number of health facilities reporting IDSR, enabled early identification, reporting, and verification of alerts, improved completeness of reports, and supportive supervision on staff at the operational levels. It was well accepted by the stakeholder as a system that made reporting easy with the potential to improve the public health surveillance system in Nigeria.

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Cholera Public Health Surveillance System in Cameroon

Online Journal of Public Health Informatics ◽

10.5210/ojphi.v7i1.5816 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 7 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Moise C. Ngwa ◽

Song Liang ◽

Leonard Mbam ◽

Mouhaman Arabi ◽

Andrew Teboh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Data Analysis ◽

Surveillance System ◽

Disease Surveillance ◽

Public Health Surveillance ◽

National Level ◽

Health Surveillance ◽

Rapid Response ◽

Surveillance And Response ◽

Public Health Surveillance System

Public health surveillance is essential for early detection and rapid response to cholera outbreaks. In 2003, Cameroon adopted the integrated disease surveillance and response (IDSR) strategy. We describe cholera surveillance within IDSR-strategy in Cameroon. Data is captured at health facility, forwarded to health district that compiles and directs data to RDPH in paper format. RDPH sends the data to the national level via internet and from there to the WHO. The surveillance system is passive with no data analysis at districts. Thus the goal of IDSR-strategy of data analysis and rapid response at the district has not been met yet.

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Establishment of public health security in Saudi Arabia for the 2009 Hajj in response to pandemic influenza A H1N1

The Lancet ◽

10.1016/s0140-6736(09)61927-9 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 374 (9703) ◽

pp. 1786-1791 ◽

Cited By ~ 58

Author(s):

ZA Memish ◽

SJN McNabb ◽

F Mahoney ◽

F Alrabiah ◽

N Marano ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Saudi Arabia ◽

Pandemic Influenza ◽

Influenza A ◽

Health Security ◽

Influenza A H1n1

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Implementation of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) in Swaziland

Online Journal of Public Health Informatics ◽

10.5210/ojphi.v10i1.8920 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Siphiwe M Shongwe-Gama ◽

Dr. Thulani Maphosa ◽

Phinda Khumalo ◽

Vusie Lokotfwako ◽

Nhlanhla Nhlabatsi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Disease Surveillance ◽

Public Health Surveillance ◽

Health Workers ◽

Health Surveillance ◽

Health Facilities ◽

Health Systems Strengthening ◽

Notification System ◽

Surveillance And Response ◽

And Control

Objective: To strengthen public health surveillance and monitor implementation of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response in the Kingdom of Swaziland.Introduction: Swaziland adopted the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) strategy in 2010 to strengthen Public Health Surveillance (PHS) that fulfills International Health Regulations (2005) and the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA). This strategy allows the Ministry of Health (MoH), Epidemiology and Disease Control Unit (EDCU) to monitor, prevent and control priority diseases in the country. We used a health systems strengthening approach to pilot an intervention model for IDSR implementation at five hospitals in Swaziland over a pilot phase of three months.Methods: Our intervention included cross-country IDSR trainings, sensitizations and onsite trainings targeting national and regional health teams for over 250 health workers. The EDCU developed and disseminated standardized case definitions for health facilities (HFs) to detect, confirm and report priority conditions. Trained health care workers were tasked to cascade knowledge sharing and sensitization about IDSR with their HFs during in-service trainings. The facilities were to use IDSR standard case definition as guidelines for diagnosing and reporting cases; submit monthly reports on all priority conditions to Health Management Information System (HMIS) and intensify reporting through immediate disease notification system (IDNS) for all notifiable conditions. Indicators and monitoring tools for disease surveillance and response as recommended by the technical guidelines for IDSR in the African region were developed. The intervention was evaluated at five purposively selected high-volume referral hospitals (attending to ≥1500 to 15000 outpatient visits per month), which also have maternity services.Structured questionnaires in the form of a monitoring tool, checklists and observations were used to collect data. Quantitatively, monthly reports submitted by the five facilities to HMIS were reviewed and analyzed for completeness and timeliness. Clinic supervisors were identified from outpatient, inpatient, maternity and laboratory departments as key informants to explore successes and challenges of IDSR implementation. Additionally, IDSR officers visited health facilities and observed the registers and reporting forms used to report IDSR priority conditions and the availability of IDSR guidelines.Results: The five HFs submitted monthly reports from June to August 2017 with a calculated completeness of 80% in June 2017, 60% in July and 40% in August. Timeliness was calculated was at 20% in June, 20% in July and 40% in August. IDSR officers observed that all five HFs document cases of priority diseases in registers during consultations and use daily tally sheets. However, it was observed that diseases reported through the immediate diseases notification system were not all documented in the morbidity registers and vice versa. Health workers reported to be unaware about all diseases that require immediate notification to trigger investigation, hence some disease like perinatal deaths were never notified through the IDNS system during the period of evaluation. All five hospitals reported not utilizing the standard cases definitions provided to identify and report IDSR priority diseases.Conclusions: The proportion of completeness and timeliness from the five HFs during the evaluation period was low compared to WHO recommended standards of >= 80% from all HFs. This therefore, poses challenges in monitoring and responding to the priority conditions as per IDSR standards and recommendations. All five hospitals reported not utilizing the standard cases definitions to identify and report IDSR priority diseases and this poses challenges in comparison of data across sites, monitoring priority diseases, conditions and events and also identifying the alert or epidemic thresholds. There is need to capacitate more health workers on IDSR for Swaziland to strengthen PHS and be able to prevent and control public health threats timely.

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Performances of Bioinformatics Pipelines for the Identification of Pathogens in Clinical Samples with the De Novo Assembly Approaches: Focus on 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1)

The Open Bioinformatics Journal ◽

10.2174/1875036201408010001 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 1-5

Author(s):

Tommaso Biagini ◽

Barbara Bartolini ◽

Emanuela Giombini ◽

Maria R. Capobianchi ◽

Fabrizio Ferrè ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Monitoring ◽

Pandemic Influenza ◽

Computational Efficiency ◽

Influenza A ◽

De Novo ◽

Rapid Identification ◽

Clinical Samples ◽

Public Health Monitoring ◽

Influenza A H1n1

Diagnostic assays for pathogen detection are critical components of public-health monitoring efforts. In view of the limitations of methods that target specific agents, new approaches are required for the identification of novel, modified or ‘unsuspected’ pathogens in public-health monitoring schemes. Metagenomic approach is an attractive possibility for rapid identification of these pathogens. The analysis of metagenomic libraries requires fast computation and appropriate algorithms to characterize sequences. In this paper, we compared the computational efficiency of different bioinformatic pipelines ad hoc established, based on de novo assembly of pathogen genomes, using a data set generated with a 454 genome sequencer from respiratory samples of patients with diagnosis of 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1). The results indicate high computational efficiency of the different bioinformatic pipelines, reducing the number of alignments respect to the identification based on the alignment of individual reads. The resulting computational time, added to the processing/sequencing time, is well compatible with diagnostic needs. The pipelines here described are useful in the unbiased analysis of clinical samples from patients with infectious diseases that may be relevant not only for the rapid identification but also for the extensive genetic characterization of viral pathogens without the need of culture amplification.

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Electronic Reporting of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response: Lessons learned from Northeast, Nigeria, 2019.

10.21203/rs.3.rs-48119/v2 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Luka Mangveep Ibrahim ◽

Ifeanyi Okudo ◽

Mary Stephen ◽

Opeayo Ogundiran ◽

Jerry Shitta Pantuvo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Disease Surveillance ◽

Public Health Surveillance ◽

Health Surveillance ◽

Lessons Learned ◽

Health Facilities ◽

Supportive Supervision ◽

Electronic Reporting ◽

Surveillance And Response ◽

Completeness Of Reporting

Abstract Background: Electronic reporting of integrated disease surveillance and response (eIDSR) was implemented in Adamawa and Yobe states, North-East of Nigeria, as an innovative strategy to improve disease reporting. Its objectives were to improve the timeliness and completeness of IDSR reporting by health facilities, prompt identification of public health events, timely information sharing, and public health action. We evaluated the project to determine whether it met its set objectives.Method: We conducted a cross-sectional study to assess and document the lessons learned from the project. We reviewed the performance of the local government areas (LGAs) on timeliness and completeness of reporting, rumors identification, and reporting on the eIDSR and the traditional paper-based system using a checklist. Respondents were interviewed online on the relevance, efficiency, sustainability, project progress and effectiveness, the effectiveness of management, and potential impact and scalability of the strategy using structured questionnaires. Data were cleaned, analyzed, and presented as proportions using an MS Excel spreadsheet. Responses were also presented as direct quotes.Results: The number of health facilities reporting IDSR increased from 103 to 228 (117%) before and after implementation of the eIDSR respectively. The timeliness of reporting was 43% in the LGA compared to 73% in health facilities implementing eIDSR. The completeness of IDSR reports in the last six months before the evaluation was ≥ 85%. Of the 201 rumors identified and verified, 161 (80%) were from the eIDSR pilot sites. The majority of the stakeholders interviewed believed that eIDSR met its predetermined objectives for public health surveillance. The benefits of eIDSR included timely reporting and response to alerts and disease outbreaks, improved timeliness, and completeness of reporting, and supportive supervision to the operational levels. The strategy helped stakeholders to appreciate their roles in public health surveillance.Conclusion: The eIDSR has increased the number of health facilities reporting IDSR, enabled early identification, reporting, and verification of alerts, improved timeliness and completeness of reports, and supportive supervision of staff at the operational levels. It was well accepted by the stakeholder as a system that made reporting easy with the potential to improve the public health surveillance system in Nigeria.

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