Strengthening epidemiological surveillance in Benin and Burkina Faso for an effective response to COVID 19 (STREESCO project)

As part of the health systems set up by Benin and Burkina Faso’s health authorities, the project will develop with intended users an epidemic surveillance and response system that will be effective, sensitive, coordinated and adapted to a low-resource con text. The epidemic surveillance system will be able to produce and process the ongoing information needed to execute early alerts and to control the health system’s response. The information system will be based on (i) field epidemiological investigations and a syndrome surveillance device, (ii) virological tests and (iii) indicators that track action, monitor adaptation to the epidemic and control the response capabilities of health structures. The analysis (biostatistics, geo-epidemiology) of the data collected will bring knowledge useful for a better understanding of the epidemic dynamics and to estimate its parameter (R0…). Finally, the project will promote African and European research collaboration and strengthen the capacity of African institutions to conduct an epidemic surveillance system. The systematic collection of health outcomespecific data, that include event-based, in-patient- and laboratory-based surveillance methods, will have three specific objectives:

1. Implement in Benin in strategic sites for the country (at the border of the health cordon and outside the health cordon) an active epidemiological surveillance of suspected cases according to the WHO protocol, in support of the national strategy of response to CoVID-19
2. Strengthen this national strategy by developing a clinical-epidemiological surveillance system in the remote areas of Benin (health center approach) and in Burkina Faso (population survey approach). These actions will allow to monitor the evolution of the epidemic and alert in real time health authorities, by detecting and counting cases, identifying clusters (links between cases and contacts) and monitoring the evolution of the epidemic (reaction thresholds).
3. Better understanding the dynamic of the epidemic and its parameters in Africa through a modern biostatistical and geo-epidemiological analysis of the data collected in this project. This health watch implemented in health facilities will capture, filter and analyze signals about the epidemic emergence of viral respiratory infections.This last action should enable the detection of a possible new wave of CoVID-19 or its resurgence.

EDCTP Grants

Epidemiology
Surveillance

$588,806

Benin
Burkina Faso

Clinical Epidemiology of COVID-19 in Malaria Settings