Electronic reporting of integrated disease surveillance and response: lessons learned from northeast, Nigeria, 2019.

Background: Electronic reporting of integrated disease surveillance and response (eIDSR) was implemented in Adamawa and Yobe states, Northeastern Nigeria, as an innovative strategy to improve disease reporting. Its objectives were to improve the timeliness and completeness of IDSR reporting by health facilities, prompt identification of public health events, timely information sharing, and public health action. We evaluated the project to determine whether it met its set objectives.

Evaluation of National Event-Based Surveillance, Nigeria, 2016-2018.

Nigeria Centres for Disease Control and Prevention established an event-based surveillance (EBS) system in 2016 to supplement traditional surveillance structures. The EBS system is comprised of an internet-based data mining tool and a call center. To evaluate the EBS system for usefulness, simplicity, acceptability, timeliness, and data quality, we performed a descriptive analysis of signals received during September 2017-June 2018.

Emergency response to a cluster of suspected food-borne botulism in Abuja, Nigeria: challenges with diagnosis and treatment in a resource-poor setting.

Food-borne botulism is a rare, acute and potentially fatal neurologic disorder that results from ingestion of food contaminated by botulinum toxin released from the anaerobic, spore-forming, gram-positive bacterium Clostridium botulinum. We reported an unusual cluster of botulism outbreak with high case fatality affecting a family following ingestion of home-made fish. A suspected outbreak of botulism affecting three patients in a family of six was reported to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

A rapid assessment of the implementation of integrated disease surveillance and response system in Northeast Nigeria, 2017.

Background: Integrated disease surveillance and response (IDSR) is the strategy adopted for public health surveillance in Nigeria. IDSR has been operational in Nigeria since 2001 but the functionality varies from state to state. The outbreaks of cerebrospinal meningitis and cholera in 2017 indicated weakness in the functionality of the system.

Nigeria's Joint External Evaluation and National Action Plan for Health Security.

Nigeria is working to protect against and respond more effectively to disease outbreaks. Quick mobilization and control of the Ebola epidemic in 2014, at least 4 major domestic outbreaks each year, and significant progress toward polio eradication led to adoption of the World Health Organization's Global Health Security Joint External Evaluation (JEE) and National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS). The process required joint assessment and planning among many agencies, ministries, and sectors over the past 2 years.

Action-Based Costing for National Action Plans for Health Security: Accelerating Progress Toward the International Health Regulations (2005).

Multiple costing tools have been developed to understand the resources required to build and sustain implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR), including a detailed costing tool developed by WHO ("WHO Costing Tool") and 2 action-based costing tools, Georgetown University's IHR Costing Tool and CDC's Priority Actions Costing Tool (PACT). The relative performance of these tools is unknown. Nigeria costed its National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) using the WHO Costing Tool.

Improving Cross-Border Preparedness and Response: Lessons Learned from 3 Lassa Fever Outbreaks Across Benin, Nigeria, and Togo, 2017-2019.

Long-standing cultural, economic, and political relationships among Benin, Nigeria, and Togo contribute to the complexity of their cross-border connectivity. The associated human movement increases the risk of international spread of communicable disease. The Benin and Togo ministries of health and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, in collaboration with the Abidjan Lagos Corridor Organization (a 5-country intergovernmental organization) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sought to minimize the risk of cross-border outbreaks by defining and implementing procedures for binational and multinational public health collaboration.

Performance of the Public Health System During a Full-Scale Yellow Fever Simulation Exercise in Lagos State, Nigeria, in 2018: How Prepared Are We for the Next Outbreak?

Recurring outbreaks of infectious diseases have characterized the West African region in the past 4 decades. There is a moderate to high risk of yellow fever in countries in the region, and the disease has reemerged in Nigeria after 21 years. A full-scale simulation exercise of the outbreak of yellow fever was conducted to assess preparedness and response in the event of a full-scale outbreak.

Outbreak of human monkeypox in Nigeria in 2017-18: a clinical and epidemiological report.

Background: In September, 2017, human monkeypox re-emerged in Nigeria, 39 years after the last reported case. We aimed to describe the clinical and epidemiological features of the 2017-18 human monkeypox outbreak in Nigeria.

Methods: We reviewed the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of cases of human monkeypox that occurred between Sept 22, 2017, and Sept 16, 2018.

A cluster of nosocomial Lassa fever cases in a tertiary health facility in Nigeria: Description and lessons learned, 2018.

Background: Lassa fever is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease endemic in Nigeria. The 2018 Lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria was unprecedented, with 8% of all cases occurring among healthcare workers (HCWs). A disproportionately high number of these infections occurred in HCWs working in a tertiary health facility in Nigeria.

User Evaluation Indicates High Quality of the Surveillance Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System (SORMAS) After Field Deployment in Nigeria in 2015 and 2018.

During the West African Ebola virus disease outbreak in 2014-15, health agencies had severe challenges with case notification and contact tracing. To overcome these, we developed the Surveillance, Outbreak Response Management and Analysis System (SORMAS). The objective of this study was to measure perceived quality of SORMAS and its change over time.

The African cholera surveillance network (Africhol) consortium meeting, 10-11 June 2015, Lomé, Togo.

The fifth annual meeting of the African cholera surveillance network (Africhol) took place on 10-11 June 2015 in Lomé, Togo. Together with international partners, representatives from the 11 member countries -Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zimbabwe- and an invited country (Malawi) shared their experience. The meeting featured three sessions: i) cholera surveillance, prevention and control in participating countries, ii) cholera surveillance methodology, such as cholera mapping, cost-effectiveness studies and the issue of overlapping epidemics from different diseases, iii) cholera laboratory diagnostics tools and capacity building.