Nigeria: Fighting Lassa Fever Through
Community-Based Disease Surveillance in Nigeria
Unfortunately, in developing countries like Nigeria, most of
these data sources are either not available, or not usually in electronic
forms. They are commonly kept manually in notebooks with attendant laxity and
inconsistencies due to human error. Besides, such manual information can
neither be transmitted automatically nor aggregated in real-time for outbreak
detection. This is a handicap for most developing countries, which may want to
join the trend in using automated data sources for syndromic surveillance.
This system is used to
report potential outbreaks of diseases like Cholera, Ebola, Lassa fever, etc.,
as well as help health workers contain the spread of diseases. With this eIDSR,
the users can collect timely information from the field via the web and mobile
phones and electronically transmit them to all health facilities at the same
time. This has reportedly helped to improve timeliness, accuracy and completeness
of reporting, and helped officials detect outbreaks rapidly, investigate them
and mount a quick response within the country.
Also, some African
countries have used select members of the community for delivering basic health
services. For instance, in Rwanda, community health workers (CHWs) are simply
select members of the community assigned to designated geographic area for
basic health services delivery. There is also the "Nyateros of
Gambia" (Friends of the eye) who because of the prevalence of eye disease,
Trachoma (or Ocular Chlamydia trachomatis infection), are employed to deliver
basic eye care services in their community.
In the Call-in system of
syndromic surveillance, select members of the community are trained for
surveillance purposes and early detection of infectious diseases.
Implementation of this in Nigeria could lead to early detection, prompt
reporting, as well as early investigation, and rapid response to outbreaks like
Lassa fever.
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