Evaluation of animal rabies surveillance system, Sunyani West District- Ghana, 2019
Introduction: Rabies is an important global public health concern causing 70,000 human deaths annually. In Ghana rabies is endemic and costs more than 16 million dollars annually. Ghana has both human and animal rabies surveillance systems to monitor the incidence and inform prevention and control m...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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African Field Epidemiology Network
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health |
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| Online Access: | https://www.afenet-journal.net/content/article/6/14/full/ |
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| author | Bonodong Zongnukuu Guri Helena Acquah Delia Akosua Bandoh Charles Lwanga Noora Basil Benduri Kaburi Saviour Denueme George Kuma Khumalo Edwin Andrew Afari Ernest Kenu |
| author_facet | Bonodong Zongnukuu Guri Helena Acquah Delia Akosua Bandoh Charles Lwanga Noora Basil Benduri Kaburi Saviour Denueme George Kuma Khumalo Edwin Andrew Afari Ernest Kenu |
| author_sort | Bonodong Zongnukuu Guri |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Introduction: Rabies is an important global public health concern causing 70,000 human deaths annually. In Ghana rabies is endemic and costs more than 16 million dollars annually. Ghana has both human and animal rabies surveillance systems to monitor the incidence and inform prevention and control measures. We evaluated the animal rabies surveillance system in Sunyani West District (SWD) to assess its attributes, usefulness and system performance in meeting its objectives.
Methods: The CDC updated guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems was adapted in this evaluation. We extracted and reviewed rabies data for 2014-2018 from veterinary and human records in SWD. We interviewed key stakeholders on the operations and attributes of the system. We performed summary descriptive statistics on quantitative data and direct content analysis on qualitative data.
Results: SWD recorded 14 dog-bites/suspected rabies cases at the veterinary office for the period with one confirmed outbreak. All veterinary staff at SWD (4/4) involved in rabies surveillance knew the case definition and could complete the case investigation forms within 10 minutes. However, most 92.9% (13/14) case investigation forms were incompletely filled. Health workers interviewed said they referred all dog bites cases to veterinarians. However, referrals were done verbally through the victim. No community assessment for unreported animal bites was done.
Conclusion: The animal rabies surveillance system is meeting its objectives by detecting an outbreak. It is useful, simple, and sensitive but has poor data quality and not acceptable. Strengthening the One-Health approach will be required to improve the overall performance of the system. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-9a259d9bffad4d69b9aac67c2878a89f |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2664-2824 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | African Field Epidemiology Network |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health |
| spelling | doaj-art-9a259d9bffad4d69b9aac67c2878a89f2025-08-20T03:08:54ZengAfrican Field Epidemiology NetworkJournal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health2664-28242023-09-0163https://doi.org/10.37432/jieph.2023.6.3.86Evaluation of animal rabies surveillance system, Sunyani West District- Ghana, 2019Bonodong Zongnukuu Guri0Helena Acquah1Delia Akosua Bandoh2Charles Lwanga Noora3Basil Benduri Kaburi4Saviour Denueme5George Kuma Khumalo6Edwin Andrew Afari7Ernest Kenu8Ghana Field of Epidemiology and Laboratory Training, Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, GhanaVeterinary Services Directorate, M 161, Ministries, Greater Accra Region, GhanaGhana Field of Epidemiology and Laboratory Training, Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, GhanaGhana Field of Epidemiology and Laboratory Training, Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, GhanaGhana Field of Epidemiology and Laboratory Training, Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, GhanaVeterinary Services Department, P.O.Box 165, Sunyani, Brong-Ahafo Region, GhanaBrong Ahafo Regional Hospital, Sunyani, GhanaGhana Field of Epidemiology and Laboratory Training, Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, GhanaGhana Field of Epidemiology and Laboratory Training, Department of Epidemiology and Disease Control, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, GhanaIntroduction: Rabies is an important global public health concern causing 70,000 human deaths annually. In Ghana rabies is endemic and costs more than 16 million dollars annually. Ghana has both human and animal rabies surveillance systems to monitor the incidence and inform prevention and control measures. We evaluated the animal rabies surveillance system in Sunyani West District (SWD) to assess its attributes, usefulness and system performance in meeting its objectives. Methods: The CDC updated guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems was adapted in this evaluation. We extracted and reviewed rabies data for 2014-2018 from veterinary and human records in SWD. We interviewed key stakeholders on the operations and attributes of the system. We performed summary descriptive statistics on quantitative data and direct content analysis on qualitative data. Results: SWD recorded 14 dog-bites/suspected rabies cases at the veterinary office for the period with one confirmed outbreak. All veterinary staff at SWD (4/4) involved in rabies surveillance knew the case definition and could complete the case investigation forms within 10 minutes. However, most 92.9% (13/14) case investigation forms were incompletely filled. Health workers interviewed said they referred all dog bites cases to veterinarians. However, referrals were done verbally through the victim. No community assessment for unreported animal bites was done. Conclusion: The animal rabies surveillance system is meeting its objectives by detecting an outbreak. It is useful, simple, and sensitive but has poor data quality and not acceptable. Strengthening the One-Health approach will be required to improve the overall performance of the system.https://www.afenet-journal.net/content/article/6/14/full/rabiessurveillance systemevaluationsunyani west districtghana |
| spellingShingle | Bonodong Zongnukuu Guri Helena Acquah Delia Akosua Bandoh Charles Lwanga Noora Basil Benduri Kaburi Saviour Denueme George Kuma Khumalo Edwin Andrew Afari Ernest Kenu Evaluation of animal rabies surveillance system, Sunyani West District- Ghana, 2019 Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health rabies surveillance system evaluation sunyani west district ghana |
| title | Evaluation of animal rabies surveillance system, Sunyani West District- Ghana, 2019 |
| title_full | Evaluation of animal rabies surveillance system, Sunyani West District- Ghana, 2019 |
| title_fullStr | Evaluation of animal rabies surveillance system, Sunyani West District- Ghana, 2019 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Evaluation of animal rabies surveillance system, Sunyani West District- Ghana, 2019 |
| title_short | Evaluation of animal rabies surveillance system, Sunyani West District- Ghana, 2019 |
| title_sort | evaluation of animal rabies surveillance system sunyani west district ghana 2019 |
| topic | rabies surveillance system evaluation sunyani west district ghana |
| url | https://www.afenet-journal.net/content/article/6/14/full/ |
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