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High-burden cholera outbreaks, spreading beyond the traditional cholera-endemic countries, have been reported since 2021 in the WHO African region. Member states in the region have committed to the global goal of cholera elimination by 2030. To track progress towards this goal, WHO-African countries adopted a regional cholera prevention and control framework in 2018. This study reports on 27 countries' 5-year achievements in implementing the cholera regional framework for cholera prevention, and control. Data collected through a web-based self-assessment tool were analysed and visualised through Power BI. Data were provided by national teams of experts on cholera based on the milestones of the framework. Countries' specific progress and regional progress were calculated. The overall regional progress was 53%, ranging from 19% in Mauritania to 76% in Ethiopia. Out of the 27 countries, 3 had made good progress while 14 had fair and 10 had insufficient progress. At the regional level, 4 milestones were on track, 7 were fair and 10 had insufficient progress. Cholera hot spot mapping had the highest score at 85%, while development of investment cases for cholera control scored the lowest at 14%. Although appreciable progress was noted in some milestones, the progress against critical milestones, including for water, sanitation and hygiene, that form the bedrock of cholera control, was insufficient. Effective implementation of the cholera prevention and control framework anchored on strong government commitment and ownership is essential to curb the current trend of cholera outbreaks and improve the likelihood of cholera elimination by 2030 in Africa., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© World Health Organization 2025. Licensee BMJ.)

Background: From May 2018 to September 2022, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) experienced seven Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreaks within its borders. During the 10th EVD outbreak (2018-2020), the largest experienced in the DRC and the second largest and most prolonged EVD outbreak recorded globally, a WHO risk assessment identified nine countries bordering the DRC as moderate to high risk from cross border importation. These countries implemented varying levels of Ebola virus disease preparedness interventions. This case study highlights the gains and shortfalls with the Ebola virus disease preparedness interventions within the various contexts of these countries against the background of a renewed and growing commitment for global epidemic preparedness highlighted during recent World Health Assembly events., Main Text: Several positive impacts from preparedness support to countries bordering the affected provinces in the DRC were identified, including development of sustained capacities which were leveraged upon to respond to the subsequent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Shortfalls such as lost opportunities for operationalizing cross-border regional preparedness collaboration and better integration of multidisciplinary perspectives, vertical approaches to response pillars such as surveillance, over dependence on external support and duplication of efforts especially in areas of capacity building were also identified. A recurrent theme that emerged from this case study is the propensity towards implementing short-term interventions during active Ebola virus disease outbreaks for preparedness rather than sustainable investment into strengthening systems for improved health security in alignment with IHR obligations, the Sustainable Development Goals and advocating global policy for addressing the larger structural determinants underscoring these outbreaks., Conclusions: Despite several international frameworks established at the global level for emergency preparedness, a shortfall exists between global policy and practice in countries at high risk of cross border transmission from persistent Ebola virus disease outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo. With renewed global health commitment for country emergency preparedness resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and cumulating in a resolution for a pandemic preparedness treaty, the time to review and address these gaps and provide recommendations for more sustainable and integrative approaches to emergency preparedness towards achieving global health security is now., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: The Ministry of Health and Sanitation (MOHS) in Sierra Leone partially rolled out the implementation of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) in 2003. After the Ebola virus disease outbreak in 2014-2015, there was need to strengthen IDSR to ensure prompt detection and response to epidemic-prone diseases. We describe the processes, successes and challenges of revitalizing public health surveillance in a country recovering from a protracted Ebola virus disease outbreak., Methods: The revitalization process began with adaptation of the revised IDSR guidelines and development of customized guidelines to suit the health care systems in Sierra Leone. Public health experts defined data flow, system operations, case definitions, frequency and channels of reporting and dissemination. Next, phased training of IDSR focal persons in each health facility and the distribution of data collection and reporting tools was done. Monitoring activities included periodic supportive supervision and data quality assessments. Rapid response teams were formed to investigate and respond to disease outbreak alerts in all districts., Results: Submission of reports through the IDSR system began in mid-2015 and by the 35th epidemiologic week, all district health teams were submitting reports. The key performance indicators measuring the functionality of the IDSR system in 2016 and 2017 were achieved (WHO Africa Region target ≥80%); the annual average proportion of timely weekly health facility reports submitted to the next level was 93% in 2016 and 97% in 2017; the proportion of suspected outbreaks and public health events detected through the IDSR system was 96% (n = 87) in 2016 and 100% (n = 85) in 2017., Conclusion: With proper planning, phased implementation and adequate investment of resources, it is possible to establish a functional IDSR system in a country recovering from a public health crisis. A functional IDSR system requires well trained workforce, provision of the necessary tools and guidelines, information, communication and technology infrastructure to support data transmission, provision of timely feedback as well as logistical support.

Outbreaks of epidemic diseases pose serious public health risks. To overcome the hurdles of sub-optimal disease surveillance reporting from the health facilities to relevant authorities, the Ministry of Health in Kenya piloted mSOS (mobile SMS-based disease outbreak alert system) in 2013-2014. In this paper, we report the results of the qualitative study, which examined factors that influence the performances of mSOS implementation. In-depth interviews were conducted with 11 disease surveillance coordinators and 32 in-charges of rural health facilities that took part in the mSOS intervention. Drawing from the framework analysis, dominant themes that emerged from the interviews are presented. All participants voiced their excitement in using mSOS. The results showed that the technology was well accepted, easy to use, and both health workers and managers unanimously recommended the scale-up of the system despite challenges encountered in the implementation processes. The most challenging components were the context in which mSOS was implemented, including the lack of strong existing structure for continuous support supervision, feedback and response action related to disease surveillance. The study revealed broader health systems issues that should be addressed prior to and during the intervention scale-up.

We conducted a randomized, controlled trial to test the effectiveness of a text-messaging system used for notification of disease outbreaks in Kenya. Health facilities that used the system had more timely notifications than those that did not (19.2% vs. 2.6%), indicating that technology can enhance disease surveillance in resource-limited settings.