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Introduction: Following the 2005-6 chikungunya outbreak, a project to strengthen regional Public Health preparedness in the Indian Ocean was implemented. It includes the Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius, Reunion (France) and Seychelles. A Field Epidemiology Training Programme (FETP-OI) was started in 2011 to develop a pool of well-trained intervention epidemiologists., Methods: The FETP-OI consists of two years of supervised, learning-by-doing, on-the-job training at national sites involved in disease surveillance and response. It includes work placements at the Madagascar Pasteur Institute and the French regional epidemiology unit in Reunion and up to three training courses per year. Training objectives include epidemiological surveillance, outbreak investigations, research studies, scientific communication and transfer of competencies., Results: In four years, two cohorts of in total 15 fellows originating from four countries followed the FETP-OI. They led 42 surveillance projects (71% routine management, 14% evaluations, 12% setup, 3% other) and investigated 36 outbreak alerts, 58% of them in Madagascar; most investigations (72%) concerned foodborne pathogens, plague or malaria. Fellows performed 18 studies (44% descriptive analyses, 22% disease risk factors, and 34% on other subjects), and presented results during regional and international conferences through 26 oral and 15 poster presentations. Four articles were published in regional Public Health bulletins and several scientific manuscripts are in process., Conclusion: The FETP-OI has created a regional force of intervention consisting of field epidemiologists and trained supervisors using the same technical language and epidemiological methods. The third cohort is now ongoing. Technically and financially sustainable FETP-OI projects help addressing public health priorities of the Indian Ocean., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Background: The Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) strategy was introduced in Madagascar in 2007. Information was collected by Healthcare structures (HS) on paper forms and transferred to the central level by post or email. Completeness of data reporting was around 20% in 2009-10. From 2011, in two southern regions data were transmitted through short messages service using one telephone provider. We evaluated the system in 2014-15 to determine its performance before changing or expanding it.Methods: We randomly selected 80 HS and interviewed their representatives face-to-face (42) or by telephone (38). We evaluated knowledge of surveillance activities and selected case definitions, number of SMS with erroneous or missing information among the last ten transferred SMS, proportion of weekly reports received in the last 4 weeks and of the last four health alerts notified within 48 h, as well as mobile phone network coverage.Results: Sixty-four percent of 80 interviewed HS representatives didn't know their terms of reference, 83% were familiar with the malaria case definition and 32% with that of dengue. Ninety percent (37/41) of visited HS had five or more errors and 47% had missing data in the last ten SMS they transferred. The average time needed for weekly IDSR data compilation was 24 min in the Southern and 47 in the South-eastern region. Of 320 expected SMS 232 (73%) were received, 136 (43%) of them in time. Out of 38 alerts detected, four were notified on time. Nine percent (7/80) of HS had no telephone network with the current provider.Conclusions: SMS transfer has improved IDSR data completeness, but timeliness and data quality remain a problem. Healthcare staff needs training on guidelines and case definitions. From 2016, data are collected and managed electronically to reduce errors and improve the system's performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]