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. 2017 Oct;97(4_Suppl):12-20.
doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.16-0948.

Strengthening National Disease Surveillance and Response-Haiti, 2010-2015

Stanley Juin  1 , Nicolas Schaad  2 , Donald Lafontant  3 , Gerard A Joseph  4 , Ezra Barzilay  5 , Jacques Boncy  4 , Robert Barrais  3 , Frantz Jean Louis  1 , Nadia Lapierre Jean Charles  1 , Salomon Corvil  3 , Nickolsno Barthelemy  3 , Amber Dismer  5 , Jean Samuel Pierre  3 , Roodly W Archer  5 , Mayer Antoine  1 , Barbara Marston  5 , Mark Katz  6   1 , Patrick Dely  3 , Paul Adrien  3 , David L Fitter  1 , David Lowrance  1 , Roopal Patel  1
Affiliations

Strengthening National Disease Surveillance and Response-Haiti, 2010-2015

Stanley Juin et al. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2017 Oct.

Abstract

Haiti's health system has faced many challenges over the years, with competing health priorities in the context of chronic financial and human resource limitations. As a result, the existing notifiable disease surveillance system was unable to provide the most basic epidemiologic data for public health decision-making and action. In the wake of the January 2010 earthquake, the Haitian Ministry of Public Health and Population collaborated with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Pan American Health Organization, and other local and international partners to implement a functional national surveillance system. More than 7 years later, it is important to take the opportunity to reflect on progress made on surveillance and response in Haiti, including disease detection, reporting, outbreak investigation, and response. The national epidemiologic surveillance network that started with 51 sites in 2010 has been expanded to 357 sites as of December 2015. Disease outbreaks identified via the surveillance system, or other surveillance approaches, are investigated by epidemiologists trained by the Ministry of Health's Field Epidemiology Training Program. Other related surveillance modules have been developed on the same model and electronic platform, allowing the country to document the impact of interventions, track progress, and monitor health problems. Sustainability remains the greatest challenge since most of the funding for surveillance come from external sources.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Geographic distribution of NESN surveillance sites, December 31, 2015.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Diphtheria outbreak, October 2014 to December 2015. This figure appears in color at www.ajtmh.org.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Cholera suspected cases and case fatality rates, October 2010 to December 2015.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Distribution of cholera and rotavirus positive in under 5 year old, 2012–2015.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.
Distribution of malaria and dengue in people greater than 5 years old, 2012–2015. This figure appears in color at www.ajtmh.org.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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