ReviewBMJ health & care informatics2025
Implementation of integrated disease surveillance and response systems in West Africa: lessons learned and future directions.
Review in BMJ health & care informatics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Cholera in Lagos State, Nigeria: a One Health perspective on outbreaks and public health interventions.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Ebola Virus Disease in the Era of One Health and Global Preparedness: Evolving Epidemiology, Genomic Surveillance, and Future Challenges.Infectious disease reports · 2026Review
- Effect of Supervision or Short Messages (SMS) on the Detection Rate of Diseases Under Surveillance in the Littoral Region of Cameroon: A Randomized Controlled Health Facility-Based Trial.Research and reports in tropical medicine · 2026Article
- From fragmented to integrated surveillance in LMICs: digital pathways for outbreak detection and vaccine intelligence.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
- Surveillance without silos: a One Health data imperative for avian influenza in West Africa.Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) framework, introduced by the WHO in 1998, aimed to unify disease surveillance across West Africa, replacing fragmented systems. However, challenges such as limited real-time reporting, inadequate data collection and workforce shortages continue to impede disease control and outbreak response. The resurgence of infectious diseases like Ebola, cholera, COVID-19 and monkeypox highlights the need to strengthen IDSR systems for effective public health management. This article reviews IDSR implementation in West Africa, identifying persistent gaps, including delayed outbreak detection, limited laboratory capacity and weak surveillance infrastructure. It emphasises the importance of policy development, capacity building and stakeholder engagement to secure political support and resources. Integrating technological innovations-such as mobile health (mHealth), geographic information systems (GIS), electronic health records and big data analytics-can enhance real-time data sharing and response coordination. Strengthening laboratories, workforce training and monitoring frameworks is essential to improve IDSR performance. Strategic investments are crucial to bolster public health capacities, accelerate response times and mitigate future epidemics in West Africa.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.