The State of Public Health Surveillance and Health Systems in West Africa, 2023 Open Access

Abstract

The utilization of Public Health surveillance has never been more important than now. With the rise in global trends of emerging and re-emerging Infectious diseases, the need for a robust Public Health system is apparent. At a global level, Infectious disease count for more than 60% of the burden of disease. More developed countries have made greater strides in implementing Health Surveillance systems that rapidly detect and treat outbreaks. Unfortunately, Sub-Saharan Africa is far behind with this advancement. Communicable diseases are amongst the highest disease burdens in this region. Low- and Middle-income countries are tasked with incorporating and strengthening disease surveillance to reduce this burden. This review examines the past and existing disease surveillance systems in these countries and evaluates the gaps and limitations to the successful implementation of surveillance systems. The review focused primarily on Ghana and Nigeria in a bid to inform future surveillance efforts in these countries. This was done by exploring the failures and successes of surveillance in the respective Countries. Results from the analysis pointed to failures in personnel training, data processing and analysis, and Inadequate Infrastructure. And successes included rapid case detection and treatment. To push more concerted efforts toward regional development of surveillance systems, future research can evaluate disease surveillance in all West African countries. 

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction 1

1.1. Background and Significance 1

1.2. Statement of the Problem 6

1.3. Statement of Purpose 6

1.4. Research Questions 7

Chapter 2: Methods 7

Chapter 3: Results 9

3.1 Individual Disease Surveillance Systems in Ghana 10

3.2 National Disease Surveillance Systems in Ghana 14

3.3 Individual Disease Surveillance Systems in Nigeria 16

3.4 National Disease Surveillance Systems in Nigeria 19

Chapter 4 Discussion, Recommendations, and Conclusions 21

4.1 Discussion 21

4.2 Limitations 24

4.3 Recommendations 24

4.4 Conclusion 26

About this Master's Thesis

Rights statement

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School	Rollins School of Public Health
Department	Hubert Department of Global Health
Degree	M.P.H.
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Health Sciences, Public Health Sub Saharan Africa Studies
Keyword	Public Health Surveillance, West-Africa, Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR)
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	McNabb, Scott, Emory University

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