Availability and Allocation of Rresources for Epidemiological Surveillance in the Edea Health Distric

Background Epidemiological surveillance is a key intervention to break the epidemiological  silence of a disease. The complexity and workload of maintaining surveillance systems on an  ongoing basis, as well as the ability to mobilize human resources in an alert situation, requires  specialized professionals, material resources and financial resources. In many developing  countries, particularly francophone ones, the development of surveillance systems is hampered  by a number of difficulties, including the lack of financial means and specialized human  resources. This study therefore assesses the availability and allocation of resources for  epidemiological surveillance in the health facilities of the Edea health district.  

Methodology This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted from 15 January to 30  March 2021 among 17 surveillance focal points in 17 health facilities in the Edea health district.  Our sampling was a non-probability sampling by convenience. Data were obtained using  several tools, namely: The questionnaire entitled “Cameroon Integrated Supportive  Supervisory Checklist” with Open Data Kit (ODK) and the binder “Edea Monitoring  Surveillance 2021”.  

Results The coverage of health facilities was 100%, i.e. 17 health facilities surveyed and 17  surveillance focal points. Concerning material resources, 59% (10/17) of health facilities had 

computer equipment, although this equipment was not always entirely dedicated to  epidemiological surveillance. In 47% (8/17) of health facilities, data entry was done on  personal tablets and/or smartphones. Concerning human resources, 6% (1/17) of the focal  points were trained in epidemiological surveillance. Also, 24% (4/17) surveillance focal points  were briefed at the Edea district health service on the use of the DHIS 2 (District Health  Information System 2). None of the health facilities, or 0%, had operating funds for monitoring  surveillance activities.  

Conclusion Surveillance and monitoring programs must be able to adapt to new  epidemiological scenarios. The lack of material resources, the lack of training of focal points  on epidemiological surveillance and the DHIS 2 as well as the lack of financial resources  dedicated to epidemiological surveillance contribute to the inefficiency of this surveillance in  the Edea health district and the lack of anticipation of potential public health emergencies.  

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Not applicable

The datasets used in this study are openly available at [repository link] and the source code is available on GitHub at [GitHub link].

This work did not receive any external funding.