Abstract
No abstract available.
Highlights
In an interconnected and interdependent world, the threat of any infectious disease is no longer a national health concern
The requirement for timely reporting of infectious diseases has been highlighted on several occasions
A poignant reminder of the impact of poor data quality and timeliness in the management of disease outbreaks is the Ebola outbreak in 2014–2016 – an outbreak that resulted in the loss of $2.2 billion US dollars gross domestic product in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia[2] as well as 11 325 lives.[3]
Summary
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) are building a global health security programme that aims to strengthen both regional and national health through networked, collaborative efforts to improve infectious disease and antimicrobial resistance surveillance. That it was this lack of data quality – and not the lack of surveillance systems or networks – that prevented the global community from acting earlier in response to the Ebola outbreak in 2014–2016. The new field of ‘connected diagnostics’ is one solution to this concern, as it automates data collection directly from the diagnostic instruments to multiple levels of stakeholders for real-time decision-making and policy response. This article details how the intervention of ‘connected diagnostics’ could solve the primary underlying failure in existing surveillance systems – the lack of accurate and timely data – to enable difficult political decisions earlier. The use of connectivity solutions can enable critical health and operational data to empower the Africa CDC, regional hubs, and each country with a consistent and automated data feed while still maintaining country privacy and controls
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
