Innovative strategies developed to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on polio surveillance in Nigeria, 2020

Abstract

Introduction following the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic to Nigeria, the Federal Government of Nigeria restricted human and vehicular movements to curb the spread of the disease. This action had a negative impact on Acute Flaccid Paralysis (AFP) surveillance, with a resultant reduction in the number of AFP cases reported. This paper describes the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on poliovirus surveillance in Nigeria and the proactive interventions by Nigeria´s polio program to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on polio surveillance. Methods nine innovative strategies were implemented in all 774 Local Government Areas (LGA) of the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) of the country. These strategies were developed by the national surveillance officers and operationalized by sub-national surveillance officers with different strategies starting at different epidemiological weeks from week 14 to 23, 2020. Many of the strategy innovations were technology-based and included: the use of mobile phones to send the AFP case definition and video by WhatsApp or by SMS, the use of state-specific toll-free numbers and Mobile Telephone Network (MTN) (mobile service provider) CallerfeelTM to community informants (CI) who were the main targets of the interventions to increase case detection and reporting. Others included the use of abridged e-surveillance integrated supportive supervision (ISS) checklists, virtual monthly DSNO meetings, and batched AFP stool specimen transportation network. Results compared to the same period in 2019, the cumulative rate of AFP case detection and reporting had gradually declined from 39.1% in January to 16.7% before the commencement of the interventions in week 20, 2020. However, the detection and reporting increased by 57.% from week 20 to week 47 compared to the same period in 2019. This is because with COVID-19, hospital visitation dropped, and the sick remained in the communities, so the CI network was relied on to detect and report AFP cases. The cumulative proportion of AFP cases reported by community informants as of week 47 increased from 13% in 2018 to 21% in 2020. This indicates an increase of 38%. Thirty-five AFP cases were detected and reported using the MTN Caller Feel strategy, while 15 cases were reported through state-specific toll-free numbers. Conclusion the implementation of the innovative strategies was able to mitigate the low AFP case detection and reporting observed at the initial stage of the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of technology facilitated reaching the CI network, which was more instrumental in detecting and reporting the cases.

Кыргыз Республикасында Полиомиелитке Жана Курч Шал Оорусуна Эпидкөзөмөлдүн Натыйжалуулугун Баалоо.

“…Приказом МЗ КР №1103 от 13.08.2021 года "Об усилении эпидемиологических карт для расследования случаев инфекционных и паразитарных заболеваний в республике" была разработана новая форма эпидемиологических карт [8]. В обновленной карте, как оказалось, отсутствуют ячейки для заполнения дат расследования, что также является упущением Наши выводы согласуются с исследованиями, проведенными в Нигерии, где показано, что ограни чительные мероприятия во время пандемии оказали негативное влияние на эпиднадзор и привело к снижению числа зарегистрированных случаев ОВП [9]. Так же, по результатам промежуточного доклада ВОЗ о четвертом раунде глобального оперативного обследования по вопросу о непрерывности предос тавления основных услуг здравоохранения во время пандемии COVID-19, в 84 странах, прошедших ана-лиз тенденций, показала, что в 2020 году в июле-сентябре предоставление услуг было нарушено на 56%, а с ноября 2022 года по января 2023 года доля услуг с нарушениями составил 23% [10].…”