In 1998, in response to the emergence of severe outbreaks of largely preventable diseases in African countries, the 46 Member States of the WHO Regional Office for Africa (WHO/AFRO) adopted Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) as a comprehensive regional framework to strengthen national public health surveillance and response systems in Africa. In 2006, WHO/AFRO Member States recommended that the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) be implemented using the IDSR framework. The IDSR framework illustrates the functions, activities and skills required at each level of the health system to implement a coordinated, comprehensive surveillance and response system. The goal of IDSR is to strengthen surveillance and response capabilities by building local capacities to detect , confirm and respond to emerging public health threats. The vision of IDSR is to improve the availability and use of surveillance and laboratory data so that public health managers and decision makers can plan for and improve disease detection and response capacities, strengthen health systems, and save lives.
IDSR focuses on the implementation of basic surveillance capabilities at each level of the health system - from community to health facility, to district, province and national levels where coordination with disease programs can put data to public health action. Implementation of IDSR begins with an assessment of the country's national surveillance system and capacity for laboratory confirmation, and epidemic preparedness and response guided by a jointly developed WHO / CDC protocol. The country's Ministry of Health then uses the assessment results to develop an action plan that integrates existing and expected resources and activities to achieve the benefits of a comprehensive public health surveillance and response system. The first activity of the action plan is the adaption of the WHO/CDC IDSR Technical Guidelines and IDSR Training Modules to fit the needs of the country. Countries are provided with an Adaptation Guide to plan and complete the process. The IDSR framework has been adapted by 45 of the 46 countries in the Africa region to strengthen surveillance and laboratory response capacities at each level of the country's health system. IDSR materials available in English, French, and Portuguese and have also been used outside of Africa to inform similar strategies, especially in the context of IHR compliance and advancing Global Health Security.
NATURE OF ASSISTANCE: CDC, in collaboration with WHO-AFRO, has transformed the IDSR workshop training materials into electronic modules using measurable performance objectives, realistic examples, meaningful practices, and real-time feedback to learners.
