An evaluation of the Zambia influenza sentinel surveillance system, 2011–2017

Simusika, Paul; Tempia, Stefano; Chentulo, Edward; Polansky, Lauren; Mazaba, Mazyanga Lucy; Ndumba, Idah; Mbewe, Quinn K.; Monze, Mwaka

In conclusion, the system performed satisfactorily over recent years. It contributed to the body of knowledge on the burden of influenza [3, 14] and other respiratory viruses [24] among common respiratory syndromes in Zambia and globally through sharing of influenza data [8, 28] and virus isolates. Nonetheless, despite its moderate cost, the ISSS in Zambia is largely reliant on external funds and the acceptability of maintaining the surveillance system through national funds would require evaluation. Improvement of the system would entail the improvement of the timeliness of sample shipments, enrollment of patients meeting the SARI case definition and an increased geographical coverage; however, the latter would increase costs and impose logistical constraints. Furthermore, while the surveillance system is stable and able to identify circulating influenza strains, the data being generated is not fully utilized as Zambia lacks guidelines on antivirals use and vaccination policy for influenza. A better use of the available data, in association with special studies, could be made to inform and promote mitigation interventions.