scholarly journals COVID-19 surveillance systems in 13 African countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 382-392
Author(s):  
Yusuff Adebayo Adebisi ◽  
Adrian Rabe ◽  
Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno III
Keyword(s):  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Ethical Considerations ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Pubmed Central ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Surveillance And Response ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Mortality Surveillance

Background: Surveillance forms the basis for response to disease outbreaks, including COVID-19. Herein, we identified the COVID-19 surveillance systems and the associated challenges in 13 African countries. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive narrative review of peer-reviewed literature published between January 2020 and April 2021 in PubMed, Medline, PubMed Central, and Google Scholar using predetermined search terms. Relevant studies from the search and other data sources on COVID-19 surveillance strategies and associated challenges in 13 African countries (Mauritius, Algeria, Nigeria, Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, and Uganda) were identified and reviewed. Results: Our findings revealed that the selected African countries have ramped up COVID-19 surveillance ranging from immediate case notification, virological surveillance, hospital-based surveillance to mortality surveillance among others. Despite this, there exist variations in the level of implementation of the surveillance systems across countries. Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) strategy is also being leveraged in some African countries, but the implementation across countries remains uneven. Our study also revealed various challenges facing surveillance which included shortage of skilled human resources resulting in poor data management, weak health systems, complexities of ethical considerations, diagnostic insufficiency, the burden of co-epidemic surveillance, and geographical barriers, among others. Conclusion: With the variations in the level of implementation of COVID-19 surveillance strategies seen across countries, it is pertinent to ensure proper coordination of the surveillance activities in the African countries and address all the challenges facing COVID-19 surveillance using tailored strategies.

scholarly journals Laboratory-Guided Detection of Disease Outbreaks: Three Generations of Surveillance Systems

2009 ◽  
Vol 133 (6) ◽  
pp. 916-925 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vitali Sintchenko ◽  
Blanca Gallego
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Public Health Monitoring ◽  
Search Terms ◽  
Publication Language

Abstract Context.—Traditional biothreat surveillance systems are vulnerable to incomplete and delayed reporting of public health threats. Objective.—To review current and emerging approaches to detection and monitoring of biothreats enabled by laboratory methods of diagnosis and to identify trends in the biosurveillance research. Data Sources.—PubMed (1995 to December 2007) was searched with the combined search terms “surveillance” and “infectious diseases.” Additional articles were identified by hand searching the bibliographies of selected papers. Additional search terms were “public health,” “disease monitoring,” “cluster,” “outbreak,” “laboratory notification,” “molecular,” “detection,” “evaluation,” “genomics,” “communicable diseases,” “geographic information systems,” “bioterrorism,” “genotyping,” and “informatics.” Publication language was restricted to English. The bibliographies of key references were later hand searched to identify articles missing in the database search. Three approaches to infectious disease surveillance that involve clinical laboratories are contrasted: (1) laboratory-initiated infectious disease notifications, (2) syndromic surveillance based on health indicators, and (3) genotyping based surveillance of biothreats. Advances in molecular diagnostics enable rapid genotyping of biothreats and investigations of genes that were not previously identifiable by traditional methods. There is a need for coordination between syndromic and laboratory-based surveillance. Insufficient and delayed decision support and inadequate integration of surveillance signals into action plans remain the 2 main barriers to efficient public health monitoring and response. Decision support for public health users of biosurveillance alerts is often lacking. Conclusions.—The merger of the 3 scientific fields of surveillance, genomics, and informatics offers an opportunity for the development of effective and rapid biosurveillance methods and tools.

scholarly journals Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) strategy: current status, challenges and perspectives for the future in Africa

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. e001427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ibrahima Socé Fall ◽  
Soatiana Rajatonirina ◽  
Ali Ahmed Yahaya ◽  
Yoti Zabulon ◽  
Peter Nsubuga ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Rapid Assessment ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
African Region ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Monthly Bulletin ◽  
Surveillance And Response ◽  
Event Based

In 1998, the WHO African region adopted a strategy called Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR). Here, we present the current status of IDSR implementation; and provide some future perspectives for enhancing the IDSR strategy in Africa.In 2017, we used two data sources to compile information on the status of IDSR implementation: a pretested rapid assessment questionnaire sent out biannually to all countries and quarterly compilation of data for two IDSR key performance indicators (KPI). The first KPI measures country IDSR performance and the second KPI tracks the number of countries that the WHO secretariat supports to scale up IDSR. The KPI data for 2017 were compared with a retrospective baseline for 2014.By December 2017, 44 of 47 African countries (94%) were implementing IDSR. Of the 44 countries implementing IDSR, 40 (85%) had initiated IDSR training at subnational level; 32 (68%) had commenced community-based surveillance; 35 (74%) had event-based surveillance; 33 (70%) had electronic IDSR; and 32 (68%) had a weekly/monthly bulletin for sharing IDSR data. Thirty-two countries (68%) had achieved the timeliness and completeness threshold of at least 80% of the reporting units. However, only 12 countries (26%) had the desired target of at least 90% IDSR implementation coverage at the peripheral level.After 20 years of implementing IDSR, there are major achievements in the indicator-based surveillance systems. However, major gaps were identified in event-based surveillance. All African countries should enhance IDSR everywhere.

scholarly journals Global Impact and Implications of Covid-19: Call for Multi-Dimensional Perspectives towards Sustainable Solutions

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Teddie O. Rahube
Keyword(s):  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Specific Treatment ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Viral Disease ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Late Response ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Sustainable Solutions

The COVID-19 pandemic poses an enormous challenge, and it is evidently presenting itself as one of the greatest threats to humanity. The aim of this paper is to review the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global health impact and implications of COVID-19 relative to other recent viral disease outbreaks and antimicrobial resistance (AMR), with the aim to propose the implementation of sustainable solutions. The magnitude of COVID-19 deaths is incomparable to other coronaviruses (CoVs) disease outbreaks experienced in recent history. The high number of deaths observed in developed countries compared to developing countries may have been triggered by the late response/preparedness to the pandemic rather than by the socio-economic statuses. CoVs will remain a serious health threat to humanity due to absence of vaccines and anti-viral treatments. The absence of specific treatment regimens also lead to heavy reliance on chemical disinfectants and could significantly contribute to the rise in AMR, further raising some important questions surrounding hygiene, microbes, ecosystem health and human diseases. The CEASE approach, comprising of five key elements; Communication, Education, Advocacy, Socialization, and Experimentation is proposed for implementation at a global level. CEASE approach is critical especially for African countries and can be used to further explore opportunities that can lead to improvements in sanitation, access to clean water, health care, education and infectious disease surveillance systems.

scholarly journals An analecta of visualizations for foodborne illness trends and seasonality

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan B. Simpson ◽  
Bingjie Zhou ◽  
Tania M. Alarcon Falconi ◽  
Elena N. Naumova
Keyword(s):  
Visual Analytics ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Temporal Trends ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Data Interpretation ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
The Us ◽  
Annual Time Series

Abstract Disease surveillance systems worldwide face increasing pressure to maintain and distribute data in usable formats supplemented with effective visualizations to enable actionable policy and programming responses. Annual reports and interactive portals provide access to surveillance data and visualizations depicting temporal trends and seasonal patterns of diseases. Analyses and visuals are typically limited to reporting the annual time series and the month with the highest number of cases per year. Yet, detecting potential disease outbreaks and supporting public health interventions requires detailed spatiotemporal comparisons to characterize spatiotemporal patterns of illness across diseases and locations. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) FoodNet Fast provides population-based foodborne-disease surveillance records and visualizations for select counties across the US. We offer suggestions on how current FoodNet Fast data organization and visual analytics can be improved to facilitate data interpretation, decision-making, and communication of features related to trend and seasonality. The resulting compilation, or analecta, of 436 visualizations of records and codes are openly available online.

Implementing integrated disease surveillance and response: Four African countries' experience, 1998–2005

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 364-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Nsubuga ◽  
W.G. Brown ◽  
S.L. Groseclose ◽  
L. Ahadzie ◽  
A.O. Talisuna ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Surveillance And Response

scholarly journals Verification of Neonatal Tetanus Surveillance Systems in Katsina State, Nigeria

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 233339281772958
Author(s):  
Shafique Sani Nass ◽  
Hadi Danawi ◽  
Loretta Cain ◽  
Monoj Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Active Surveillance ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Neonatal Tetanus ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Surveillance And Response ◽  
Incidence And Mortality ◽  
Record Review

Background: The incidence and mortality rates of neonatal tetanus (NNT) remain underreported in Nigeria. The goal of the study was to compare the NNT prevalence and the mortality rates from the existing surveillance system and active surveillance of health facility records in 7 selected health facilities from 2010 to 2014 in Katsina State, Nigeria. Methods: The study is a retrospective record review using extracted data from NNT records and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: The prevalence of NNT and mortality rate were 336 cases and 3.4 deaths per 100 000 population, respectively, whereas the prevalence of NNT and mortality rate reported through the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) system were 111 cases and 1.0 death per 100 000 population, respectively. Conclusion: The study shows underreporting of NNT in the existing IDSR system. Implications: Active surveillance is a good strategy for verifying underreporting of NNT in the surveillance system. The IDSR system should be strengthened with the capacity to detect events associated with a disease toward global elimination.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the Kano State Lassa Fever Surveillance System, 2015-2018 – Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Usman yahya Umar ◽  
Mikha'il Abdu Abubakar ◽  
Imam Wada Bello ◽  
Muhammad Shakir Balogun ◽  
Sadiq Tahir ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surveillance System ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
Lassa Fever ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Surveillance And Response ◽  
Male Preponderance ◽  
Training And Support

Abstract BackgroundLassa fever (LF) is one of the priority diseases under surveillance through the integrated disease surveillance and response system (IDSR). We evaluated the LF surveillance system against its set objectives and assessed its attributes. MethodsWe used cross-sectional study design. Forty-seven stakeholders involved in the surveillance system were interviewed using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Updated Guidelines for Evaluating Public Health Surveillance Systems. The LF surveillance data from January 2015 to December 2018 were also analyzed. The attribute and objectives of the system were evaluated. ResultsOut of the 76 suspected cases recorded in kano state during the study period, only 54 samples were laboratory tested, 11 of them were confirmed positive with 9 deaths (case fatality rate of 82%). Confirmed cases were predominantly in Tudun Wada LGA (63.6%), while the age-group 20-39 years constituted 55% of the confirmed cases. There was male preponderance of cases (73%). The predictive value positive (PVP) was 14.5%. The surveillance system was however meeting its objectives of determining LF burden and detecting and characterizing cases and outbreak.ConclusionLF surveillance system in Kano was simple, flexible, stable, acceptable and timely. However, data was not representative. We recommended improved reporting from private and tertiary facilities and more personnel training and support to improve the system.

scholarly journals COVID-19 Crisis in Africa: Revisiting the Contributing Factors

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 64-67
Author(s):  
Ugochukwu A Eze ◽  
Kingsley I Ndoh ◽  
Kehinde K Kanmodi
Keyword(s):  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
African Countries ◽  
The World ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has been a major threat to people and healthcare systems around the world. Each region of the world has had unique factors such as culture, demographics, socioeconomic and the political landscape that has either fueled or mitigated the severity of the pandemic. For example, the 2021 Indian Kumbh Mela festival fueled a devastating wave of the pandemic in India. Similarly, the pandemic in the United States has in part been fueled an epidemic of disinformation that led to a growing number of anti-vaxxers, and those who are opposed to COVID-19 prevention guidelines set by agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Africa, burial practices in Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo once fueled the Ebola epidemic. Likewise, in the context of COVID-19, there are factors that are unique to Africa that may have either fueled or mitigated the severity of the pandemic. The anti-COVID-19 measures in many African countries significantly affected household income without commensurate deployment of palliative measures to cushion the effect. Fortunately, the pandemic has run a relatively milder course in sub-Saharan Africa—defying earlier devastating projections. Therefore, to be prepared for the next pandemic, African governments must involve critical stakeholders such as religious and traditional leaders, strengthen current disease surveillance systems and invest in systems that encourage private investments in local vaccine manufacturing.

An exploratory study of disease surveillance systems in Norway

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 368-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika A Johansen ◽  
Jeremiah Scholl ◽  
Gudleif Aronsen ◽  
Gunnar Hartvigsen ◽  
Johan G Bellika
Keyword(s):  
Distributed System ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Electronic Record ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Correct Interpretation ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Serious Disease

We conducted a qualitative study of the system for contagious disease surveillance in Norway. Semi-structured interviews were held with five general practitioners (GPs), including one person responsible for informing GPs in their region about potentially serious disease outbreaks. The interviews suggested that the existing system had several limitations, making it of little relevance to local epidemics or daily medical practice. Specifically, it was difficult and time-consuming for physicians to locate relevant information, and there was a substantial delay between reported diagnoses and eventual feedback about outbreaks. This resulted in information that was too old to be of value. The interviews also investigated design matters related to future realtime disease surveillance systems. The GPs expressed interest in a distributed system for realtime extraction and presentation of data from electronic record systems. They required that any such system be customizable to the specific needs of the doctor in order to be relevant in day-to-day practice, and that correct interpretation of data would be possible in the minimum of time.

scholarly journals Nowcasting Influenza-like Illness Trends in Cameroon

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine O. Nsoesie ◽  
Olubusola Oladeji ◽  
Aristide S. Abah Abah ◽  
Martial L. Ndeffo-Mbah
Keyword(s):  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Respiratory Infections ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Digital Data ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Influenza Like Illness ◽  
Search Data ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Google Search

ABSTRACTAlthough acute respiratory infections are a leading cause of mortality in sub-Saharan Africa, surveillance of diseases such as influenza is mostly neglected. Evaluating the usefulness of influenza-like illness (ILI) surveillance systems and developing approaches for forecasting future trends is important for pandemic preparedness. We applied statistical and machine learning models to forecast 2012 to 2018 trends in ILI cases reported by the Cameroon Ministry of Health (MOH), using Google searches for influenza symptoms, treatments, natural or traditional remedies as well as, infectious diseases with a high burden (i.e., AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis). The variance explained by the models based on Google search data were 87.7%, 79.1% and 52.0% for the whole country, the Littoral and Centre regions respectively. Our study demonstrates the need for developing contextualized approaches when using digital data for disease surveillance and demonstrates the potential usefulness of search data for monitoring ILI in sub-Saharan African countries.

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