Kenya's experience implementing event-based surveillance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Event-based surveillance (EBS) can be implemented in most settings for the detection of potential health threats by recognition and immediate reporting of predefined signals. Such a system complements existing case-based and sentinel surveillance systems. With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, the Kenya Ministry of Health (MOH) modified and expanded an EBS system in both community and health facility settings for the reporting of COVID-19-related signals.

Etiologies of influenza-like illness and severe acute respiratory infections in Tanzania, 2017-2019.

In 2016, Tanzania expanded sentinel surveillance for influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) to include testing for non-influenza respiratory viruses (NIRVs) and additional respiratory pathogens at 9 sentinel sites. During 2017-2019, respiratory specimens from 2730 cases underwent expanded testing: 2475 specimens (90.7%) were tested using a U.

Effectiveness of a COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout in a Highly Affected American Indian Community, San Carlos Apache Tribe, December 2020-February 2021.

COVID-19 has disproportionately affected American Indian Tribes, including the San Carlos Apache Tribe, which resides on 1.8 million acres in Arizona and has 16 788 official members. High vaccination rates among American Indian/Alaska Native people in the United States have been reported, but information on how individual Tribes achieved these high rates is scarce.

Partnership Between a Federal Agency and 4 Tribal Nations to Improve COVID-19 Response Capacities.

Upon request from tribal nations, and as part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC's) emergency response, CDC staff provided both remote and on-site assistance to tribes to plan, prepare, and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. From April 2, 2020, through June 11, 2021, CDC deployed a total of 275 staff to assist 29 tribal nations. CDC staff typically collaborated in multiple work areas including epidemiology and surveillance (86%), contact tracing (76%), infection prevention control (72%), community mitigation (72%), health communication (66%), incident command structure (55%), emergency preparedness (38%), and worker safety (31%).

Public Health Actions to Control Measles Among Afghan Evacuees During Operation Allies Welcome - United States, September-November 2021.

On August 29, 2021, the United States government oversaw the emergent establishment of Operation Allies Welcome (OAW), led by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and implemented by the U.

Implementation of a COVID-19 Screening Testing Program in a Rural, Tribal Nation: Experience of the San Carlos Apache Tribe, January-February 2021.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected tribal populations, including the San Carlos Apache Tribe. Universal screening testing in a community using rapid antigen tests could allow for near-real-time identification of COVID-19 cases and result in reduced SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Published experiences of such testing strategies in tribal communities are lacking.

COVID-19 response by the Hopi Tribe: impact of systems improvement during the first wave on the second wave of the pandemic.

The Hopi Tribe is a sovereign nation home to ~7500 Hopi persons living primarily in 12 remote villages. The Hopi Tribe, like many other American Indian nations, has been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. On 18 May 2020, a team from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was deployed on the request of the tribe in response to increases in COVID-19 cases.

Testing early warning and response systems through a full-scale exercise in Vietnam.

Background: Simulation exercises can functionally validate World Health Organization (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) core capacities. In 2018, the Vietnam Ministry of Health (MOH) conducted a full-scale exercise (FSX) in response to cases of severe viral pneumonia with subsequent laboratory confirmation for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) to evaluate the country's early warning and response capabilities for high-risk events.

Methods: An exercise planning team designed a complex fictitious scenario beginning with one case of severe viral pneumonia presenting at the hospital level and developed all the materials required for the exercise.

Etiology of Severe Acute Respiratory Infections, Bangladesh, 2017.

In April 2017, surveillance detected a surge in severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) in Bangladesh. We collected specimens from SARI patients and asymptomatic controls for analysis with multipathogen diagnostic tests. Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 was associated with the SARI epidemic, suggesting that introducing vaccines and empiric antiviral drugs could be beneficial.

A SARS-CoV-2 Outbreak Illustrating the Challenges in Limiting the Spread of the Virus - Hopi Tribe, May-June 2020.

On June 3, 2020, a woman aged 73 years (patient A) with symptoms consistent with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (1) was evaluated at the emergency department of the Hopi Health Care Center (HHCC, an Indian Health Services facility) and received a positive test result for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. The patient's symptoms commenced on May 27, and a sibling (patient B) of the patient experienced symptom onset the following day. On May 23, both patients had driven together and spent time in a retail store in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Community-based surveillance advances the Global Health Security Agenda in Ghana.

Ghana Health Service (GHS) has strengthened community-based surveillance (CBS) to facilitate early detection and rapid reporting of health events of all origins. Since June 2017, GHS has employed an event-based surveillance approach at the community level in a phased manner. CBS coverage has broadened from 2 to 30 districts across Ghana.

Improving Detection and Response to Respiratory Events - Kenya, April 2016-April 2020.

Respiratory pathogens, such as novel influenza A viruses, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and now, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), are of particular concern because of their high transmissibility and history of global spread (1). Clusters of severe respiratory disease are challenging to investigate, especially in resource-limited settings, and disease etiology often is not well understood. In 2014, endorsed by the Group of Seven (G7),* the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) was established to help build country capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease threats.

Developing monitoring and evaluation tools for event-based surveillance: experience from Vietnam.

Background: In 2016-2017, Vietnam's Ministry of Health (MoH) implemented an event-based surveillance (EBS) pilot project in six provinces as part of Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) efforts. This manuscript describes development and design of tools for monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of EBS in Vietnam.

Methods: A strategic EBS framework was developed based on the EBS implementation pilot project's goals and objectives.

Community-Based Surveillance in Côte d'Ivoire.

Community-based surveillance can be an important component of early warning systems. In 2016, the Côte d'Ivoire Ministry of Health launched a community-based surveillance project in 3 districts along the Guinea border. Community health workers were trained in detection and immediate reporting of diseases and events using a text-messaging platform.

Strengthening timely detection and reporting of unusual respiratory events from health facilities in Yaoundé, Cameroon.

Background: The International Health Regulations state that early detection and immediate reporting of unusual health events is important for early warning and response systems.

Objective: To describe a pilot surveillance program established in health facilities in Yaoundé, Cameroon in 2017 which aimed to enable detection and reporting of public health events.

Methods: Cameroon's Ministry of Health, in partnership with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Cameroon Pasteur Center, and National Public Health Laboratory, implemented event-based surveillance (EBS) in nine Yaoundé health facilities.

Strengthening laboratory capacity for detection of respiratory viral pathogens through the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) framework.

Background: Endemic and emerging respiratory viruses are a threat to public health, and a robust public health laboratory system is essential to ensure global health security.

Objective: This program sought to expand molecular laboratory testing capacity to detect a broad range of respiratory pathogens in clinical respiratory specimens collected during disease surveillance and outbreak investigations.

Methods: As a part of the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention utilised the equipment and training infrastructure already in place at the World Health Organization National Influenza Centers to expand testing capacity for respiratory viruses in laboratories in GHSA partner countries.

Strengthening laboratory surveillance of viral pathogens: Experiences and lessons learned building next-generation sequencing capacity in Ghana.

Objective: To demonstrate the feasibility of applying next-generation sequencing (NGS) in medium-resource reference laboratories in Africa to enhance global disease surveillance.

Methods: A training program was developed to support implementation of NGS at Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research (NMIMR), University of Ghana. The program was divided into two training stages, first at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA, followed by on-site training at NMIMR for a larger cohort of scientists.

Comparison of FTD® respiratory pathogens 33 and a singleplex CDC assay for the detection of respiratory viruses: A study from Cameroon.

Introduction: This study compares the detection of 14 common respiratory viruses by two different real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) methods: in house singleplex tests developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the commercially available Fast Track Diagnostic (FTD®) Respiratory Pathogens 33 multiplex test.

Methods: A total of 217 nasopharyngeal swabs were analyzed using CDC singleplex rRT-PCR and FTD® Respiratory Pathogens 33 multiplex assays, for the detection of 14 respiratory viruses.

Results: The results showed that 179/217 (82.

Factors Influencing Community Event-based Surveillance: Lessons Learned from Pilot Implementation in Vietnam.

Community event-based surveillance aims to enhance the early detection of emerging public health threats and thus build health security. The Ministry of Health of Vietnam launched a community event-based surveillance pilot program in 6 provinces to improve the early warning functions of the existing surveillance system. An evaluation of the pilot program took place in 2017 and 2018.

Event-Based Surveillance at Community and Healthcare Facilities, Vietnam, 2016-2017.

Surveillance and outbreak reporting systems in Vietnam required improvements to function effectively as early warning and response systems. Accordingly, the Ministry of Health of Vietnam, in collaboration with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, launched a pilot project in 2016 focusing on community and hospital event-based surveillance. The pilot was implemented in 4 of Vietnam's 63 provinces.

Zika preparedness and response in Viet Nam.

The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official positions of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Expanding severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) surveillance beyond influenza: The process and data from 1 year of implementation in Vietnam.

Background: In 2016, as a component of the Global Health Security Agenda, the Vietnam Ministry of Health expanded its existing influenza sentinel surveillance for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) to include testing for 7 additional viral respiratory pathogens. This article describes the steps taken to implement expanded SARI surveillance in Vietnam and reports data from 1 year of expanded surveillance.

Methods: The process of expanding the suite of pathogens for routine testing by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) included laboratory trainings, procurement/distribution of reagents, and strengthening and aligning SARI surveillance epidemiology practices at sentinel sites and regional institutes (RI).

Assessment of National Public Health and Reference Laboratory, Accra, Ghana, within Framework of Global Health Security.

The Second Year of Life project of the Global Health Security Agenda aims to improve immunization systems and strengthen measles and rubella surveillance, including building laboratory capacity. A new laboratory assessment tool was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to assess the national laboratory in Ghana to improve molecular surveillance for measles and rubella. Results for the tool showed that the laboratory is well organized, has a good capacity for handling specimens, has a good biosafety system, and is proficient for diagnosis of measles and rubella by serologic analysis.