By Michael Gwarisa
In a bid to enhance existing mpox surveillance in Africa, identify at risk populations as well as understand the epidemiology, natural history and risk factors associated with mpox, the Africa Centre for Diseases Control (Africa CDC) has developed an Mpox surveillance protocol for member states.
The new protocol recommends enhancing surveillance within communities and health facilities and, at the point of entries, linking these efforts to national and regional laboratories for confirmation.
Countries are encouraged to share the case-based data with the African CDC and the WHO using the validated variables of the Member States. Africa CDC will use this data to mobilize resources, guide public health action, and establish a continental mpox dashboard to improve awareness and support real-time monitoring of the mpox situation on the continent,” said Africa CDC.
In terms of reporting timelines, the Africa CDC Non-Endemic Countries have been urged to report timely and probable and confirmed cases should be reported to Africa CDC within 24 hours of detection. Testing and sequencing data should be shared within a maximum of seven days. Agreed variables should be reported
through the Africa CDC event management system (EMS) or email in excel format immediately.
“Endemic Countries, suspected, probable, and confirmed cases should be reported to Africa CDC weekly. Testing
and sequencing data should be shared within a maximum of seven days. Agreed variables should be reported
through the Africa CDC EMS or on excel daily.”
Submission of the case-based information should be done by the national surveillance or mpox focal point(s),
who will compile the reports and upload into the EMS or forward it to the Africa CDC ebs@africacdc.org.
On Data Validation, automated and manual checks during data collection and submission should be done at national, regional and continental levels to ensure accuracy and consistency.
“Data security and data sharing should adhere to the AU Health Information Guideline and Standards for Digital
Health, and AU Member states policies, procedures, and best practices related to data sharing”
Meanwhile, the national focal person will oversee data collection and reporting, ensuring regional and continental
guidelines are aligned. Additionally, robust feedback mechanisms will be established to facilitate continuous
communication and coordination between national, regional, and continental levels, enhancing the effectiveness of data management and ensuring that guidelines are consistently applied across all levels.
Countries have also been encouraged to perform routine monitoring of their surveillance systems to evaluate performance and identify areas for improvement.
The Africa CDC has emphasized the need for training for healthcare workers on the standard WHO case definitions for mpox7, allowing for prompt detection and appropriate classification of cases. The national level should adopt the standard WHO case definition for mpox and disseminate this definition to all facilities to facilitate detection and reporting.
In addition, responsible healthcare workers have been urged to use the standardized line list to inform case-based data collection efforts in health facilities. This ensures standardized and comparable case reporting across AU Member States.
In countries where event-based surveillance (EBS) is not in place or in areas where community health workers have not been trained on EBS, simplified case definitions could be used to help identify cases. Simplified community case definitions could also be used in areas with established community mpox transmission to improve active case finding efforts in communities.
The Africa CDCÂ notes that existing Event Based Surveialnce (EBS) efforts could be leveraged to support the early detection and reporting of mpox-related events occurring within the community, at health facilities, or along border regions and at points of entry (POE).
