Viral hemorrhagic fever surveillance system evaluation after the first West Africa’s Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) outbreak, Gueckegou, Guinea, 2021
- Blood-borne Diseases
Background
In August 2021, following the West Africa's Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) outbreak notified in Guinea from Gueckedou district that did one case with 100% of case fatality rate, Guinea has strengthened its syndrome viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) surveillance system to rapidly detect and respond promptly to any new VHF cases including MVD. The purpose of this evaluation is to determine whether the system is meeting its objectives and to make recommendations for improvement.
Methods
CDC guideline 2001 was used to evaluate the system. A structured questionnaire was administered to surveillance officers to health districts of Gueckedou and heads facilities selected according to their commitment in VHF surveillance to assess simplicity and acceptability while the surveillance database of Gueckedou's 2021 Marburg outbreak response was analyzed to assess data quality, timeliness, representativeness, and useful.
Results
Simplicity: 100% of the interviewees had a case definition among them 51 (90%) found it easy to use and 34 (61%) found the notification form easy to fill. Acceptability: 100% of respondent were willing to do surveillance of VHF. From the 2021 database, timeliness: 100% of suspected cases were detected within 24 hours after symptoms onset and reported to national level promptly and laboratory results were available within 48 hours and the data quality: 63% of completeness. Representativeness: the system made it possible to describe the cases over the time, person and place. Useful: the system detected one outbreak and allow to trace 172 contacts during 21 days among them no new confirmed cases were detected.
Conclusion
The VHF surveillance system has achieved its objectives. It’s simple but complex for filing the notification forms, acceptable, prompt, representative but poor data quality. The system is useful. The surveillance focal points were briefed on filling notification form. We recommend to simplify notification form and monitor data quality to improve the surveillance system.
In August 2021, following the West Africa's Marburg Virus Disease (MVD) outbreak notified in Guinea from Gueckedou district that did one case with 100% of case fatality rate, Guinea has strengthened its syndrome viral hemorrhagic fever (VHF) surveillance system to rapidly detect and respond promptly to any new VHF cases including MVD. The purpose of this evaluation is to determine whether the system is meeting its objectives and to make recommendations for improvement.
Methods
CDC guideline 2001 was used to evaluate the system. A structured questionnaire was administered to surveillance officers to health districts of Gueckedou and heads facilities selected according to their commitment in VHF surveillance to assess simplicity and acceptability while the surveillance database of Gueckedou's 2021 Marburg outbreak response was analyzed to assess data quality, timeliness, representativeness, and useful.
Results
Simplicity: 100% of the interviewees had a case definition among them 51 (90%) found it easy to use and 34 (61%) found the notification form easy to fill. Acceptability: 100% of respondent were willing to do surveillance of VHF. From the 2021 database, timeliness: 100% of suspected cases were detected within 24 hours after symptoms onset and reported to national level promptly and laboratory results were available within 48 hours and the data quality: 63% of completeness. Representativeness: the system made it possible to describe the cases over the time, person and place. Useful: the system detected one outbreak and allow to trace 172 contacts during 21 days among them no new confirmed cases were detected.
Conclusion
The VHF surveillance system has achieved its objectives. It’s simple but complex for filing the notification forms, acceptable, prompt, representative but poor data quality. The system is useful. The surveillance focal points were briefed on filling notification form. We recommend to simplify notification form and monitor data quality to improve the surveillance system.