Last Updated: 27/05/2026
Regional Initiatives in Support of Surveillance in East Africa: The East Africa Integrated Disease Surveillance Network (EAIDSNet)
Objectives
To improve the health of the people of East Africa by promoting the exchange and dissemination of appropriate information on emerging diseases, combining the disease surveillance systems within the region and ensuring continuous exchange of expertise and best practice on infectious disease.
The overall objective is to reduce morbidity and mortality due to common communicable diseases in the region and its borders.
The East African Integrated Disease Surveillance Network (EAIDSNet) is a collaborative, intergovernmental initiative between the National Ministries for human and animal health and the National health research and academic institutions of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania.
It was formed in response to a growing frequency of cross-border malaria outbreaks in the 1990s and a growing recognition that fragmented disease interventions, coupled with weak laboratory capacity, were making it difficult to respond in a timely manner to the outbreaks of malaria and other infectious diseases.
The East Africa Community (EAC) partner states, with financial support from the Rockefeller Foundation, established EAIDSNet in 2000 to develop and strengthen the communication channels necessary for integrated cross-border disease surveillance and control efforts.
Major accomplishments of EAIDSNet include influencing the establishment of a Department of Health within the EAC Secretariat to support a regional health agenda; successfully completing a regional field simulation exercise in pandemic influenza preparedness, and piloting a web-based portal for linking animal and human health disease surveillance.
Jan 2000
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