Chingonzoh Ruvimbo, Gixela Yvonne, Motloung Bontle, Mgobo Nosiphiwo, Merile Zonwabele, Dlamini Thomas
Division of Public Health Surveillance and Response, National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Epidemiology and Research Unit, Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Health, Bhisho, South Africa.
Jamba. 2024 Oct 17;16(1):1625. doi: 10.4102/jamba.v16i1.1625. eCollection 2024.
Previous pandemics, recent outbreaks, and imminent public health events are a clarion call for functional public health surveillance systems that timeously detect public health events, guide interventions, and inform public health policy. We reviewed the Eastern Cape Provincial coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) surveillance approach to determine best practices and opportunities to strengthen public health surveillance. We conducted a document review of COVID-19 surveillance reports, tools and guidelines prepared between March 2020 and November 2021. Iterative content and thematic analysis were applied to identify strengths and shortcomings of provincial COVID-19 surveillance. Strengths and shortcomings of the provincial COVID-19 surveillance process, and human, technical, and technological resources for surveillance were described. The existence of local surveillance networks, local availability of national-level surveillance guidelines, the ability to describe and track COVID-19 epidemiology, and provincial access to a national, web-based centralised COVID-19 surveillance data system were strengths identified. Shortcomings included poor data quality, data disharmony between sub-national reporting levels, under-resourced surveillance capacity at district level, and suboptimal use of the routine surveillance system for COVID-19 surveillance. The review determined the need for a web-based, integrated surveillance system that was agile in meeting evolving surveillance needs and accessible at all health reporting levels for response and decision-making.
The review identified opportunities to advance the existing routine public health surveillance system and improve public health surveillance and response. This qualitative review articulates local knowledge that should be translated into strategies and actions to bolster public health preparedness.
以往的大流行、近期的疫情爆发以及即将发生的公共卫生事件，都在强烈呼吁建立功能健全的公共卫生监测系统，以便及时发现公共卫生事件、指导干预措施并为公共卫生政策提供依据。我们回顾了东开普省2019年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的监测方法，以确定加强公共卫生监测的最佳做法和机会。我们对2020年3月至2021年11月期间编写的COVID-19监测报告、工具和指南进行了文献回顾。应用迭代内容和主题分析来确定省级COVID-19监测的优势和不足。描述了省级COVID-19监测过程以及监测的人力、技术和技术资源的优势和不足。确定的优势包括存在地方监测网络、国家层面监测指南在当地可用、能够描述和跟踪COVID-19流行病学情况以及省级可访问国家基于网络的集中式COVID-19监测数据系统。不足之处包括数据质量差、次国家级报告层面的数据不一致、地区层面监测能力资源不足以及在COVID-19监测中对常规监测系统的利用不充分。该回顾确定需要一个基于网络的综合监测系统，该系统能够灵活满足不断变化的监测需求，并且在所有卫生报告层面都可用于应对和决策。
该回顾确定了推进现有常规公共卫生监测系统以及改善公共卫生监测和应对的机会。这项定性回顾阐明了当地知识，应将其转化为加强公共卫生准备的战略和行动。
