Alert system to detect possible school-based outbreaks of influenza-like illness.

To evaluate the usefulness of school absentee data in identifying outbreaks as part of syndromic surveillance, we examined data collected from public schools in Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA. An innovative automated alert system captured information about school-specific absenteeism to detect and provide real-time notification of possible outbreaks of influenza-like illness.

The contribution of child health days to improving coverage of periodic interventions in six African countries.

Background: Child Health Days have been implemented since the early 2000s in a number of sub-Saharan African countries with support from UNICEF and other development partners with the aim to reduce child morbidity and mortality.

Objective: To estimate the effect of Child Health Days on preventive public health intervention coverage, and possible trade-offs of Child Health Days with facility-based health systems coverage, in sub-Saharan Africa.

Methods: Data were assembled and analyzed from population-based sample surveys and administrative records and from local government sources, from six countries.