Integrated Surveillance Model for improving Completeness of Notifiable Disease Surveillance in Jaffna, Sri Lanka

Across the world, health systems grapple with the burden of infectious diseases, particularly in low and middle-income countries. In Sri Lanka, the effectiveness of notifiable disease surveillance heavily relies on the data collected from government hospitals within the Western medical system. Unfortunately, the absence of notifications from other pertinent sources hinders comprehensive reporting of notifiable diseases, consequently compromising the quality of epidemiological data. To address this issue, an exploratory study was undertaken to identify alternative notification sources, examine the challenges associated with these sources, and propose an integrated surveillance model (using Soft Systems Methodology) for infectious disease notification.

The study employed a qualitative approach, involving interviews with 38 healthcare professionals engaged in notifiable disease surveillance activities in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. The gathered information was transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis techniques. The findings of the study highlighted incompleteness as a major factor contributing to the substandard reporting of surveillance data in Jaffna. To enhance the completeness of reporting in the region, it is crucial to involve various stakeholders in the notification system. This includes indigenous medical practitioners, private sector Western medical practitioners, public health workers, medical laboratories, educational institutions, civil service officers, and the general public. Incorporating these additional sources would result in more comprehensive reporting of notifiable diseases, thereby strengthening the overall surveillance efforts in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.