Using short-message-service notification as a method to improve acute flaccid paralysis surveillance in Papua New Guinea.

Siddhartha Sankar Datta,Ramzi Khattar,Ravi Shankar Santhana Gopala Krishnan,Hiromasa Okayasu,Berry Ropa,Gerard Pai Sui

doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3062-5

Abstract

BackgroundHigh quality acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance is required to maintain polio-free status of a country. Papua New Guinea (PNG) is considered as one of the highest risk countries for polio re-importation and circulation in the Western Pacific Region (WPRO) of the World Health Organization due to poor healthcare infrastructure and inadequate performance in AFP surveillance. The Government of PNG, in collaboration with WHO, piloted the introduction of short-message-service (SMS) to sensitize pediatricians and provincial disease control officers on AFP and to receive notification of possible AFP cases to improve surveillance quality in PNG.MethodsNinety six health care professionals were registered to receive SMS reminders to report any case of acute flaccid paralysis. Fourteen SMS messages were sent to each participant from September 2012 to November 2013. The number of reported AFP cases were compared before and after the introduction of SMS.ResultsTwo hundred fifty three unique responses were received with an overall response rate of 21 %. More than 80 % of responses were reported within 3 days of sending the SMS. The number of reported AFP cases increased from 10 cases per year in 2009–2012 to 25 cases per year during the study period and correlated with provincial participation of the health care professionals.ConclusionsCombined with improved sensitization of health care professionals on AFP reporting criteria and sample collection, SMS messaging provides an effective means to increase timely reporting and improve the availability of epidemiologic information on polio surveillance in PNG.

Highlights

High quality acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance is required to maintain polio-free status of a country
We demonstrate the results of the implementation of SMS messages to sensitize the pediatrician and the provincial disease control officers in reporting of AFP cases, which indicates a cost-effective means to increase surveillance reporting of AFP and other communicable disease in the National Surveillance System (NSS) in Papua New Guinea (PNG)
In provinces that had both Provincial Disease Control Officers (PDCO) and pediatricians registered in the SMS Alert system, responses were received from either the PDCO or the pediatrician with the exception of Morobe province, which had responses sent from both PDCO and pediatricians

Summary

Introduction

High quality acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance is required to maintain polio-free status of a country. Papua New Guinea (PNG) is considered as one of the highest risk countries for polio re-importation and circulation in the Western Pacific Region (WPRO) of the World Health Organization due to poor healthcare infrastructure and inadequate performance in AFP surveillance. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) is a partnership of the World Health Organization (WHO), Rotary International, the US Centers for Disease control and Prevention (CDC), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and has been successful in reducing the incidence of confirmed cases of polio by 99 % from 1988 to 2013 [5]. The success of the GPEI can be attributed to successful vaccination initiatives, improved hygienic practices, training of health care professionals (HCP) to deliver quality immunization services and most importantly, establishing a disease surveillance to detect a possible outbreak.

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