Surveillance training for ebola preparedness in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Mali

Resource type
Journal Article
Authors/contributors
Title
Surveillance training for ebola preparedness in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Mali
Abstract
© 2017, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). All rights reserved. The 2014–2015 epidemic of Ebola virus disease in West Africa primarily affected Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Several countries, including Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal, experienced Ebola importations. Realizing the importance of a trained field epidemiology workforce in neighboring countries to respond to Ebola importations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Field Epidemiology Training Program unit implemented the Surveillance Training for Ebola Preparedness (STEP) initiative. STEP was a mentored, competency-based initiative to rapidly build up surveillance capacity along the borders of the at-risk neighboring countries Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Senegal, and Guinea-Bissau. The target audience was district surveillance officers. STEP was delivered to 185 participants from 72 health units (districts or regions). Timeliness of reporting and the quality of surveillance analyses improved 3 months after training. STEP demonstrated that mentored, competency-based training, where learners attain competencies while delivering essential public health services, can be successfully implemented in an emergency response setting.
Publication
Emerging Infectious Diseases
Date
2017
Language
en
Loc. in Archive
LOCAL-SCOPUS_ID:85041008962
Citation
Cáceres, V. M., Sidibe, S., Andre, M., Traicoff, D., Lambert, S., King, M. E., Kazambu, D., Lopez, A., Pedalino, B., Herrera Guibert, D. J., Wasswa, P., Cardoso, P., Assi, B., Ly, A., Traore, B., Angulo, F. J., Quick, L., Dicker, R., Brenner, E., … Johnson, K. (2017). Surveillance training for ebola preparedness in Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, and Mali. Emerging Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.3201/eid2313.170299