Abstract
IntroductionAlthough Liberia adapted the integrated diseases surveillance and response (IDSR) in 2004 as a platform for implementation of International Health Regulation (IHR (2005)), IDSR was not actively implemented until 2015. Some innovations and best practices were observed during the implementation of IDSR in Liberia after Ebola virus disease outbreak. This paper describes the different approaches used for implementation of IDSR in Liberia from 2015 to 2017.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study using the findings from IDSR supervisions conducted from September to November 2017 and perused the outbreaks linelists submitted by the counties to the national level from January to December 2017 and key documents available at the national level.ResultsIn 2017, the country piloted the use of mobile phones application to store and send data from the health facilities to the national level. In addition, an electronic platform for acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance called Auto-Visual AFP Detection and Reporting (AVADAR) was piloted in Montserrado County during the first semester of 2017. The timeliness and completeness of reports submitted from the counties to national level were above the target of 80% stable despite the challenges like insufficient resources, including skilled staff.ConclusionIDSR is being actively implemented in Liberia since 2015. Although the country is facing the same challenges as other countries during the early stages of implementation of IDSR, the several innovations were implemented in a short time. The surveillance system reveled to be resilient, despite the challenges.
Highlights
Public health surveillance systems are crucial for detection of unusual trends of diseases or public health events
integrated diseases surveillance and response (IDSR) is being actively implemented in Liberia since 2015
The country is facing the same challenges as other countries during the early stages of implementation of IDSR, the several innovations were implemented in a short time
Summary
Public health surveillance systems are crucial for detection of unusual trends of diseases or public health events. Unable to detect early public health emergencies including early stage of outbreaks are public health challenges in several african countries. This weakness contributed to a late recognition of Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa in 2014, where Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea were the most affected countries [2,3,4,5]. Some innovations and best practices were observed during the implementation of IDSR in Liberia after EVD outbreak, as well as dramatic improvement on case detection and response to several outbreaks and public health events. This paper describes the different approaches used for implementation of IDSR in Liberia after EVD outbreak, innovations, best practices and lessons learned
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