Rotavirus surveillance system evaluation, Kilifi Hospital, Kenya
Introduction: Rotavirus is one of the causes of acute diarrhea among children under five years. Diarrhea causes 9·9% of the 6·9 million deaths worldwide among children in this age group. The rotavirus surveillance system is aimed at determining the disease burden, and epidemiology of the virus, and...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
African Field Epidemiology Network
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://afenet-journal.org/rotavirus-surveillance-system-evaluation-kilifi-hospital-kenya/ |
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| Summary: | Introduction: Rotavirus is one of the causes of acute diarrhea among children under five years. Diarrhea causes 9·9% of the 6·9 million deaths worldwide among children in this age group. The rotavirus surveillance system is aimed at determining the disease burden, and epidemiology of the virus, and monitoring the impact of vaccination. The rotavirus surveillance system was piloted at Kilifi County Hospital, Kenya in 2009 and has been active to date. The system at this site has never been evaluated. We sought to evaluate its performance.
Methods: We reviewed records for children aged under five years admitted to Kilifi Hospital. We collected sociodemographic and clinical information. We developed a semi-structured questionnaire and interviewed stakeholders from both national and facility levels to assess the system attributes using updated CDC guidelines. The qualitative attributes were evaluated using the five-point Likert Scale after interviewing the key stakeholders, whereas the descriptive attributes and other variables were described in terms of proportions and percentages. For ranking and scoring of qualitative data: poor (<60%) average (60% to <80%) and good (≥80%).
Results: We reviewed 1,184 records of suspected cases from the database. Males were 690 (58.7%) and those below the age of 12 months were 647 (54.7%). Altered level of consciousness contributed to 598(51%) of presenting symptoms among suspected cases. The system attributes scores were: usefulness (74%), flexibility (67%), stability (61%), simplicity (75%), acceptability (78%), Timeliness (95%), sensitivity (11.5%) and completeness (data quality) (41%).
Conclusion: The RVSS at Kilifi County Hospital effectively monitors rotavirus trends but faces challenges in data quality, burden estimation, and financial sustainability. We recommend mentorship on data management, regular data quality audits at the facility and address gaps in funding, to enhance its role in informing immunization policy. |
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| ISSN: | 2664-2824 |