Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response: Tools & Resources

Technical Guidelines

IDSR guideline manuals are available in 3 languages: The IDSR Technical Guidelines were finalized in 2002 and revised in 2010 to align with the IHR (2005) core capacity requirements. The guidelines are intended for use as a general reference for surveillance activities across all levels of the health system. They explain how to conduct the steps illustrated in the IDSR matrix, including a set of definitions for thresholds that trigger action for responding to specific diseases. The revised IDSR Technical Guidelines (2010) include surveillance guidelines for priority diseases and conditions as well as guidance for collection of data on non-communicable diseases and events of public health concern.

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Training

IDSR eLearning Course

In collaboration with the World Health Organization's Africa Regional Office, CDC developed training modules to support workshop and pre-service training in IDSR skills and knowledge. CDC also collaborated with WHO/AFRO to transform the workshop training materials for Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) into electronic modules. The course includes measurable performance objectives, realistic examples, meaningful practices, and real-time feedback to learners.

To test the course's effectiveness and develop a plan for teaching the course abroad, CDC helped conduct an IDSR e-Learning pre-launch workshop in Blantyre, Malawi. At the end of the workshop, participants completed a draft course guide for Malawi. The guide includes considerations such as target audience, course schedule, and budget that will be useful for other countries that are interested in implementing the course.

IDSR Course on TRAIN (Non-CDC Resource

To access the IDSR Course on TRAIN, visit https://www.train.org/DesktopModules/eLearning/CourseDetails/CourseDetailsForm.aspx?courseId=1057696.

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Evaluation

With so many moving parts, national disease surveillance and response systems are complex and can be difficult tricky to evaluate. After Ebola hit West Africa in 2014, WHO/AFRO and CDC worked to make IDSR easier to understand and put into practice from the frontline health post to the top level of national public health. The framework uses five key elements to evaluate IDSR use within a public health system and identify any problems.

Ethiopia was one of the first countries to work with CDC and WHO to test out the new evaluation tool to improve health threat detection and response abilities. We hope that Ethiopia’s successful pilot of the IDSR evaluation tool can act as a guide for other countries to strengthen health protection efforts across the globe.

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SurvCost

SurvCost is a spreadsheet-based tool developed to aid public health officials to estimate the cost of Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) systems at national, region/province, district, and health facility levels.

SurvCost estimates the costs of seven categories of resources: personnel, office operating items, transportation, laboratory materials and supplies, treatment and programmatic response items, media or public awareness campaigns, and capital items. The estimates of costs-by-category will allow surveillance system managers to better understand the resources required to operate IDSR systems.

SurvCost may also be of use to managers of other disease surveillance systems who wish to estimate their costs.

SurvCost Files

• SurvCost Spreadsheet [2 MB] (with Macros)
• SurvCost Manual [2.1 MB, 47 Pages] (with Macros)
• SurvCost Manual [803 KB, 47 Pages] (for printing only)

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