Infectious Diseases Surveillance: Lessons Learned, Lessons to Learn .
PROF BECKIE NNENNA TAGBO (JP) MBBS, FCAI, FWACP (Paed), PhD, Vaccinology (Univ. Ghana & Cape Town), Advanced Vaccinology (Univ. Geneva), Epid Glob Health (Univ. Washington), Leadership & Mgt in Health (Univ. Washington), Glob Health Res (Univ. Washington)
✓ Director, Institute of Molecular Medicine and Infectious Diseases, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria.
✓ Professor of Paediatrics & Child Health, Department of Paediatrics, College of Medicine, University of Nigeria
✓ Chief Consultant Paediatrician, Department of Paediatrics/ Institute of Child Health, University of Nigeria teaching Hospital
• Chair of the WHO African Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (AACVS).
• Member, WHO (Global headquarters) Geneva, Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) sub-committee on nOPV2 (novel oral polio vaccine type 2) Safety.
• Pioneered WHO AFRO / FED GOVT Rotavirus surveillance/ research for the first time in Nigeria in 2010 and thus headed the team that placed Nigeria on the World Health Organization Global map of rotavirus reporting countries of the world to WHO Global Headquarters at Geneva in 2010.
• Led the team that trained/established/mentored WHO AFRO Fed Govt/WHO AFRO rotavirus surveillance/research sites at UNTH Enugu(2010), UITH Ilorin(2013), ATBUTH Bauchi, ABUTH Zaria(both in Sept 2017).
• She has been involved in other new vaccines surveillance activities and has generated tremendous molecular/epidemiological data that has informed policy actions nationally and internationally.
• Site Coordinator for WHO AFRO intussusception and Paediatric Bacterial meningitis Sentinel Surveillance in Nigeria
• Principal investigator for several studies in infectious diseases
• Member, African Centre for Disease Control (CDC) Expert Committee for the development of the Pan-African Antimicrobial Standard Treatment Guidelines for Common Infections and Syndromes in Paediatric Patients.
• Fellow & Life member, West African College of Physicians (FWACP), in the Faculty of Paediatrics.
• Head, Paediatric Association of Nigeria Advisory Committee on Immunization from 2010 - 2022
• Member of many National working groups
• Member; National Ministerial Blueprint Committee on Routine Immunization.(As Immunization Field Expert)
• Member of 5 Working Groups of the GAIA/Brighton Collaboration
• Has vast experience in surveillance, research, policy meetings/consultation/special assignments, public health, vaccine clinical trial, immunization programme implementation /immunization training Consultant/Field Expert, advocacy, advisory committees,
• She is the Chief Editor of the 16-author Paediatric textbook titled “A Quick Glance at Paediatrics”
• Published many papers in both local and international high impact factor medical journals
• Journal Peer Reviewer for many journals
• Editorial Board Member for many journals
Awards
•Physician of the Year Award 2022 (Public sector)
Jaipur #ℂall #gIRLS Oyo Hotel 89O1183OO2 #ℂall #gIRL in Jaipur
3.NISPID 2023 Pre-conference 2.pptx
1. NISPID 2023 Pre-
conference
Infectious Diseases
Surveillance:
Lessons Learned,
Lessons to Learn
16-17 January 2023
Prof Beckie Tagbo
• Director, Institute of Molecular
Medicine and Infectious Diseases,
College of Medicine, University of Nigeria
&
• Principal Investigator/ Site Coordinator,
WHO/FGN New Vaccines (Disease(
Surveillance
2. Why was it called 'surveillance'?
• Close observation of exposed persons to identify
onset of disease
• Definition changed in the 1950s
• What is the definition of public health
surveillance?
2
3. Surveillance
•Disease surveillance: The ongoing
systematic collection and analysis of data and
the provision of information which leads to
action being taken to prevent and control a
disease, usually one of an infectious nature.
3
4. What are the key elements of public health
surveillance?
• Ongoing
• Systematic
• Collection, analysis, interpretation, and
dissemination
• Data regarding a health-related event
• For use in public health action to reduce
morbidity and mortality and to improve health
4
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5013a1.htm
You do not begin surveillance
without the policy makers &
implementers of response to
outcomes
5. What types of surveillance strategies?
•National and Sentinel (hospital-
based)
•Active and Passive
•Indicator based and Event based
Examples:
•Polio
•Measles
•New vaccines
5
6. New Vaccines Surveillance:
When and why?
• Before vaccine introduction
• Demonstrate disease burden
• Justification to introduce vaccine
• Establish system to measure vaccine impact
• Identify circulating strains
• After vaccine introduction
• Monitor vaccination program impact
• Monitor any change in circulating strains: needs
strong laboratory support
• Platform to evaluate safety
6
(i.e., surveillance for
dxs targeted by new
vaccines)
E.g., Rotavirus & Paediatric Bacterial Meningitis surveillance
7. Sentinel vs. National
Surveillance
Sentinel:
1 Children's Hospital
National:
Every HCF, Every Case
•Easier, cheaper
•Likely good lab
•Better quality data (active
vs. passive)
•Monitor trends over time
•More severe cases, so not
representative of all disease
•More expensive, harder
•Transport samples to lab
•All disease in the country
(mild, severe)
•Monitor trends over time
•Identify outbreaks,
epidemics
Spain
Netherlands
7
10. Rotavirus Surveillance
Countries Participating in the WHO Network
and Reporting Data for 2010
Data collected from WHO Regions.
Slide date: 2 August 2010
Yes (55 Member States or 28% of Member States)
46
Nigeria, represented
by ICH UNTH Enugu
Site, now reporting
data on rotavirus
surveillance to WHO
Geneva; indicated by
blue colour on the
map
11. There were challenges
• We took a big chance, but God gave us favour
• Govt & WHO came and saw our commitment and readiness
• We were adopted
• We trained/ established UITH, then Zaria & Bauchi >>> one
big family
• We did not just do data,…
• Consistently committed to strong evidence-based advocacy/
sensitization/ awareness towards vaccine introduction
• Vaccine should have been introduced much earlier…
12. There were challenges
• Government had her own challenges too
• Competing diseases and other aspects of health
• Apart from bureaucratic bottlenecks…
• Gavi application process… almost through…
• Vaccine brand had supply capacity issues – birth cohort - 7m
• Started Gavi process almost all over again
• Then COVID-19 struck
• Finally got Gavi approval and in Aug 2022, RV was launched
(Northern states), & Dec 2022 for Southern states
• Great story of eventual success
• RV in private market costs about N5,000-N30,000 per dose!
12
23. 23
Always ask to see
the immunization
card during
clerking &
indicate in your
hx if card was
sighted. Tell
mother to
ALWAYS bring it
whenever
bringing child to
hospital for any
ill-health.
Nigerian national routine
immunization schedule (by age)
Revised
Routine
Immunization
Schedule
24. Current Rotavirus Vaccine Introduction
Status
• More than 70% of countries in sub-Saharan Africa
have introduced rotavirus vaccines.
• But because rotavirus disease burden is so high in
this region—more than half of all rotavirus deaths
occur in African countries—it is critical that the
remaining countries introduce vaccines to protect
their children from rotavirus.
24
26. Nigeria Sentinel site surveillance
for Rotavirus
•Enugu (UNTH) - 2010
•Ilorin (UITH) - 2012
•Zaria (ABUTH) - 2017
•Bauchi (ATBUTH) – 2017
•Ilorin, Zaria and Bauchi sites were
established and mentored by Enugu
site
26
Lagos (LUTH) was scheduled for training in Dec 2022, but could
not hold due to logistics issues
27. Rotavirus surveillance shifts to vaccine impact
monitor and safety surveillance
• We have
therefore,
commenced
impact studies
and case-
controlled
series safety
study of a
projected
sample size of
800
• Before vaccine introduction
• Demonstrate disease burden
• Justification to introduce vaccine
• Establish system to measure vaccine impact
• Identify circulating strains
• After vaccine introduction (Rotavac)
• Monitor vaccination program impact
• Monitor any change in circulating strains:
needs strong laboratory support
• Platform to evaluate safety
New Vaccines Surveillance:
When and why?
30. Our Data from 2010 to 2022
• Total Number of cases enrolled from inception =
5148
• Number positive =2262
• Percentage positivity = 44%
• Chronic cases =32
• Bloody Cases =64
31. Male, 2288
44.4%
Female, 2838
55.6%
# Enrolled based on gender 2010-OCT
2022 (n=5126)
Male, 1342
59.6%
Female, 917
40.6%
RV Positivity based on gender 2010-OCT 2022
(n=5126)
36. Chronic /
Pesistent
Diarrhoea = 35,
36%
Bloody Diarrhoea
=62 64%
Proportion of Bloody and Chronic diarrhoea cases
collected from 2017 to Oct 2022
TaqMan Array Cards
are high-throughput,
accurate, sensitive,
and simple-to-use
tools for quantitative
analysis of mRNA or
miRNA transcripts
using a real-time
PCR protocol. They
utilize a microfluidic
card with 384 reaction
chambers and eight
sample loading ports.
Interesting findings
and the industry is
already working on
candidate
vaccines…
In one study, we
tested for 35
organisms at
once:
15 bacteria, 17
viruses, 1 fungus
and 2 protozoan
37. Nigeria Sentinel site surveillance for
Paediatric Bacterial Meningitis (PBM)
• Lagos (LUTH)
• Enugu (UNTH)
• Ilorin (UITH)
• Benin (UBTH)
• Bauchi (ATBUTH)
• Ilorin, Zaria and Bauchi
have been integrated into
the Enhanced Meningitis
Surveillance 37
• Before vaccine introduction
• Demonstrate disease burden
• Justification to introduce vaccine
• Establish system to measure vaccine impact
• Identify circulating strains
• After vaccine introduction (Rotavac)
• Monitor vaccination program impact
• Monitor any change in circulating strains:
needs strong laboratory support
• Platform to evaluate safety
New Vaccines Surveillance:
When and why?
38. Paediatric bacterial
meningitis
surveillance in
Nigeria, from 2010 to
2016
Tagbo BN, Bancroft R, Fajolu I, Abdulkadir MB, Bashir MF,
Okunola P, Isiaka A, Namadi L, Edelu BO, Onyejiaka N, Ihuoma
CJ, Ndu F, Ozumba UC, Udeinya F,Ogunsola F, Saka AO,
Fadeyi A , Aderibigbe SA, Abdulraheem J, Yusuf AG, Ogbogu P,
Kanu C, Emina V, Makinwa J, Gehre F, Yusuf K, Braka F,
Mwenda JM, Ticha JM, Nwodo D, Biey JN, Kwambana-Adams
BA, Antonio M, for the African Paediatric Bacterial Meningitis
Surveillance Network
39. Background
•Historically, Nigeria has experienced large
bacterial meningitis outbreaks causing high
morbidity and mortality in children <5 years
old.
•Streptococcus pneumoniae, Neisseria
meningitidis, and Haemophilus influenzae
are the predominant causes of this invasive
disease (using meningitis as proxy) which
are preventable by immunization.
•(Men:Pneumo >> 1:>9)
40. Background
• In collaboration with the World Health
Organisation, we conducted a longitudinal
surveillance study across five sentinel hospitals
within Nigeria to establish the burden of
bacterial meningitis,
• Aimed at providing data that supported the
decision to introduce the Pneumococcal
Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) to Nigeria’s
immunization program and monitor impact
41. Figure 1: A map of the 36 states within Nigeria, highlighting the 5 states in which the 5 sentinel hospitals are
situated
42. Methods
•From 2010 to 2016, Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF)
was collected from children <5 years, admitted to
five sentinel Hospitals across Nigeria.
•Microbiological and latex agglutination techniques
were performed on samples to detect the presence
of S.pneumoniae, N.meningitidis and H.influenzae.
•Species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR),
and serotyping/serogrouping, was conducted to
determine specific causative agents.
43. Results
•In total, 5134 children with suspected meningitis
were enrolled at the five hospitals.
•A higher percentage of IBD was observed in children
with turbid CSF samples (10.5%) compared to those
with clear CSF (2.2%).
•The dominant pathogen was pneumococcus
(46.4%), followed by meningococcus (34.6%) and
H. influenzae (18.9%).
•The case fatality rate for confirmed bacterial
meningitis was 15%.
44. Results
•Overall, 53.6% of the pneumococcal
meningitis cases were caused by serotypes
covered by the PCV vaccines.
•The most prevalent meningococcal and H.
influenzae strains were serogroup W and
Hib respectively
45. Total Suspected Cases
5134
Culture
Negative
4664
Culture Positive
53
Culture Not
Done
126
Shipment to MRC Culture Positive
23
Received and PCR at MRC
1318
LUTH
NM =15
SP = 16
HI = 7
ATBUTH
NM =9
SP = 14
HI = 8
UITH
NM =0
SP = 1
HI = 2
UNTH
NM =1
SP = 4
HI = 0
UBTH
NM =3
SP = 2
HI = 0
LUTH
NM =0
SP = 4
HI = 2
ATBUTH
NM =10
SP = 12
HI = 7
UITH
NM =1
SP = 7
HI = 2
UNTH
NM =2
SP = 6
HI = 0
UBTH
NM =0
SP = 0
HI = 0
Culture
Negative
1179
Culture Not
Done
16
Culture at Sentinel
site
Others
291
Others
100
Many PCR
positive
cases
were
culture
negative
47. Distribution of Bacterial Meningitis per month
January
February
M
arch
April
M
ay
June
July
August
Septem
ber
October
Novem
ber
Decem
ber
0
5
10
15
20
25
Number
of
Meningitis
Cases
per
Month
(n)
S.pneumonaie N.meningitidis H.influenzae
N.
meningitidi
s was more
in the first
half of the
year
49. Recommendation
•Due to Nigeria’s large population vaccine
programs for preventing meningitis were
introduced in phases.
•Continued surveillance is required to estimate
vaccine impact as coverage improves and to
determine the distribution of
serotypes/serogroups of the predominant
meningitis-causing pathogens across Nigeria in
the post-vaccine era.
51. My
description
of disease
surveillance
•Disease Surveillance is simply:
•How do I pick up disease occurrence/
outbreaks earliest?
•How do I report / document earliest?
•How do I make meaning out of the data?
•How do I respond earliest?
•How do I monitor to see it has been
adequately addressed?
•How do I maintain vigilance thereafter to pick
subsequent occurrences/ outbreaks or even
new diseases?
•How do I carry out all these in a coordinated
manner on a large scale/ country wide / region
wide scale?
How do I ensure
that I continue to
improve and
adapt the entire
system/process
to emerging
trends?
52. Arriving
disease
will not
pre-
announce
itself!
So, the way to pick it up is to put
in place continuous, consistent,
sensitive and untiring
mechanisms and strategies
Disease will not announce, “I am
coming, station yourselves to pick
me”
53. Keywords – Sensitive and Responsive
Surveillance System (Quality)
The 2 keywords are sensitivity and responsiveness
on a background of inclusiveness or
comprehensiveness
Questions?
How do we make surveillance more sensitive?
How do we make it more responsive?
How do we build capacity?
Entire System
• Processes
• Human resources
• Material resources/
infrastructure
• Governance
54. DS system in Africa is relatively young
Dx surveillance system in Africa is
Relatively Young
Still developing
Has sub-optimal coverage >>>
True disease burdens unknown?
57. The Nigerian partnership model
NCDC Ebola response -
received international
commendation
Improved upon for Covid19
response in Nigeria
Risk perception is key
Partnership with private sector
was good
But only a small percentage
who met certain requirements
(orientation, std of care,
resources and FG support/
collaboration) which should be
upscaled (no of private facilities
involved) and expanded
(diseases covered)
Spoke and wheel
58. Other
lessons
• Local data is very important and better
than extrapolation or assumptions
• Local strains are also important and
could differ significantly from globally
common strains
• Policy making should not only be
evidence based but include local
evidence
• Helps monitor progress – burden, impact
of control measures, strain replacement,
dx agent replacement, platform for
vaccine safety surveillance
59. How do you set up a public health
surveillance system?
Steps in planning a surveillance system
1.Establish surveillance objectives
2.Develop case definitions for target diseases
3.Determine data sources data-collection
mechanism (type of system)
4.Determine data-collection instruments / tools
5.Field-test methods
6.Develop and test analytic approach
7.Develop dissemination mechanism
8.Assure use of analysis and interpretation
60. Lessons to learn
Private sector is largely untapped in DS
• Constitutes 33-60% of health facilities, >70% iof healthcare spending
in Nigeria and cannot be ignored (60% of the population in Anambra)
• How to fully integrate the private sector in DS
Quality & Relevance
• How to make surveillance more sensitive, responsive, comprehensive
(every case), inclusive (no of disease covered)
• More focus on disease elimination
New / Emerging diseases
• Heighten index of suspicion for outbreak of new diseases
• Event surveillance,
• One-health principle / orientation
61. Case studies-1
Background
Population > 5million
>60% of health services are
provided by private health
facilities
weak collaboration between the
private and public health sector
The engagement of private
sector health practitioners
significantly improved
Integrated Disease Surveillance
and Response (IDSR).
Methods
To achieve this, a multipronged
approach was used, including:
Involvement of the private
health sector groups in key
sector stakeholder’s meetings,
capacity building events and
provision of working tools
State training of 862 health care
workers on IDSR with 30% from
private sector
Engagement of private sector stakeholders in
strengthening disease surveillance and response
yields results (Anambra state Southeast Nigeria
62. Case studies-1
Inclusion of private sector in
grassroot Integrated Data
validation meetings across the
21 LGAs/Districts
Procurement / distribution of
documentation tools to all
functional health facilities
including the privately owned
ones
Orientation of the Association
of General and Private Medical
Practitioners of Nigeria
(AGPMPN) among others
Done with funding support from
the EU to WHO for implementing
the project: “Strengthening the
Nigerian Health System towards
Achieving Universal Health
Coverage”
Results
Since the beginning of the EU
funded health systems
strengthening intervention in the
State, the capacity for disease
detection, diagnosis, case
management, stock
management and documentation
have improved
Engagement of private sector stakeholders in strengthening disease surveillance
and response yields results (Anambra state Southeast Nigeria July 2019
63. Case studies-1
Response rate in implementation of
policies & standards increased.
Knowledge on disease notification and
response as well as data management
capacity equally improved
Number of private health facilities
generating and reporting IDSR data
moved from 48 in May 2018 to 165 in
December 2018
Significant increase in the coverage of
TB services from 180 facilities in 2017
to 323 by 2018 ending, representing a
45% increase compared to previous
year
Overall, 23%
increase in TB cases
detection by
December 2018
(2,300) compared to
1,800 detected in the
previous year
This achievement is
an all-time high for
Anambra and
occurred within a few
weeks of the IDSR
capacity scale up and
orientation of the
AGPMPN
Engagement of private sector stakeholders in strengthening disease surveillance
and response yields results (Anambra state Southeast Nigeria July 2019
64. Case studies-2
Background
To explore evidence regarding the
involvement of private practitioners
in routine disease notification
Method
Systematic review, Search of
databases, 40 papers reviewed
Results
Low private sector participation
Main barriers - inadequate
knowledge, unsatisfactory attitudes
and misperceptions that influence
practices
Complex reporting system with
unclear guidelines
Unsatisfactory attitudes of public
sector program staff
Infrastructural barriers e.g.,
unavailability of computers
Inadequate skilled human
resources
Conclusion
Periodic training, supportive
supervision and regular feedback
to both public and private sectors in
order to improve case notification.
Governments – provide leadership,
foster public-private collaborative
partnerships, regulatory role
From habits of attrition to modes of inclusion: enhancing the role of
private practitioners in routine disease surveillance. Phalkey RK et al
65. Case studies-3
Background
Assessed knowledge and practice
of the private health-care facilities
in DSN and explored models for
private sector engagement in DSN
in Southwestern Nigeria
Methods
Descriptive cross-sectional, using
a semi-structured self-administered
questionnaire
Medical directors of 60 private
health-care facilities in Osun State
Results
53.3% ever notified LGA authorities
38.3% of facilities notified in the
last 3 months
90.0% were willing to participate
with Govt
15.0% regularly shared data with
government monthly
Predictors of good notification
practice include:
Having good knowledge of DSN
Having received feedback from
government or notified centers
Having a designated DSN officer
Conclusions
High awareness and knowledge
but poor practices of DSN were
recorded
Knowledge and practice of disease notification among private medical
practitioners in Osun State, Southwestern Nigeria . Adebimpe W & Oluremi A
66. Case studies-4
Background:
In Nigeria, private health
facilities make up 33% of health
facilities, >70% of healthcare
spending, and >60% of
healthcare contacts
However, level of participation in
DS system has been questioned
Methods:
Cross-sectional survey
507 private health facilities in
South-West Nigeria (6 states)
Investigate the level of
compliance with disease
surveillance reporting
Factors that affect their
participation
Results:
40% of the private health
facilities complied with routine
DS reporting (17% to 60%
across the 6 states in the zone)
34% had data collection tools,
Compliance with disease surveillance and notification by
private health providers in South-West Nigeria Makinde et al.
67. Case studies-4
49% had designated professionals
assigned to health records
management
Only 7% of the clinicians could
properly identify the data tools
Predictive factors to compliance
with disease surveillance
participation included:
Awareness of a law on disease
surveillance (OR=1.55 95%
CI=1.08-2.24),
Availability of reporting tools
(OR=13.69, 95% CI=8.85-21.62),
Availability of a designated health
records officer (OR=3.9, 95%
CI=2.68-5.73),
Health records officers (OR=10.51,
95%CI=2.86-67.70) and clinicians
(OR=2.49, 95% CI=1.22-5.25) with
knowledge of DS
Conclusion
Private health facilities were poorly
compliant with disease surveillance
resulting in missed opportunities for
prompt identification and response
to threats of disease outbreaks
Makinde et al. Compliance with disease surveillance and notification by private health providers in South-
West Nigeria. Pan African Medical Journal. 2020;35:114. [doi: 10.11604/pamj.2020.35.114.21188]
68. Starting
steps…
Develop a roadmap with incremental
targets of private sector coverage/
disease coverage
Private sector involvement must be
wholesome starting from planning
stages…case definitions, etc.
Sustainable funding strategis too!
69. DS & R is developing in Africa
Gross under-reporting especially from private sector
Government stewardship / leadership is key
Sensitive & responsive, quality inclusive/comprehensive DS
Generate and apply evidence based boosting strategies
Sustainable funding strategies
Develop a comprehensive roadmap / framework
Summary / Way forward
70. References
NCDC. Strategies to improve surveillance for COVID-19, guidance for states
NCDC. Integration of private sector laboratories in national COVID-19 response
Ahmadi et al. Disease Surveillance and Private Sector in the Metropolitans: A Troublesome Collaboration. Int J Prev Med
2013;4:1036-44. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3793485/pdf/IJPVM-4-1036.pdf
Kumar A, Furtado KM. Disease Surveillance: Engaging the Private Sector - The National Institution for Transforming India
(NITI Aayog) https://www.niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2019-01/Disease_surveillance_pvtsector.pdf
Engagement of private sector stakeholders in strengthening disease surveillance and response yields results (Anambra state
South East Nigeria July 2019 https://www.niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2019-01/Disease_surveillance_pvtsector.pdf
Anambra State Strategic Health Development Plan II, 2018 – 2022
From habits of attrition to modes of inclusion: enhancing the role of private practitioners in routine disease surveillance Revati
K. Phalkey et al
Adebimpe W & Oluremi A. Knowledge and practice of disease notification among private medical practitioners in Osun State,
Southwestern Nigeria Nig J Clin Pract. 2019;17
Makinde et al. Compliance with disease surveillance and notification by private health providers in South-West Nigeria. Pan
African Medical Journal. 2020;35:114. [doi: 10.11604/pamj.2020.35.114.21188] Available online at: https://www.panafrican-
med-journal.com/content/article/35/114/full