Public health surveillance perspectives from provincial COVID-19 experiences, South Africa 2021

Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Public health surveillance perspectives from provincial COVID-19 experiences, South Africa 2021
 
Creator Chingonzoh, Ruvimbo Gixela, Yvonne Motloung, Bontle Mgobo, Nosiphiwo Merile, Zonwabele Dlamini, Thomas
 
Subject Public Health, Communicable Diseases, Disease Surveillance; COVID-19 COVID-19 surveillance; surveillance system review; public health surveillance; public health emergencies; integrated surveillance; sub-national.
Description 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.Contribution: 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.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor National Institute for Communicable Diseases Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Health World Health Organization
Date 2024-10-17
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — Qualitative Study; Document Review;
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/jamba.v16i1.1625
 
Source Jàmbá: Journal of Disaster Risk Studies; Vol 16, No 1 (2024); 12 pages 1996-1421 2072-845X
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/1625/3219 https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/1625/3220 https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/1625/3221 https://jamba.org.za/index.php/jamba/article/view/1625/3222
 
Coverage South African Province 2020 - 2021 Nil
Rights Copyright (c) 2024 Ruvimbo Chingonzoh, Yvonne Gixela, Bontle Motloung, Nosiphiwo Mgobo, Zonwabele Merile, Thomas Dlamini https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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