Reporting COVID-19 Cases through the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response Network in the Southwestern State of Nigeria: A Health Facility Survey

Abstract

Background: Rapid case detection of suspected COVID-19 cases and reporting to designated public health authorities for investigation and other public health actions are crucial in containing and ending the COVID-19 outbreak in Nigeria. In this study, we assessed the reporting practices of healthcare workers regarding COVID-19 cases through the Integrated Disease Surveillance Response (IDSR) structure and the predictive factors in the Southwest state of Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed in recruiting one hundred and seventeen participants for the study in two Local Government Areas of Ondo State, Southwest Nigeria. Data were collected through interviewers' administered questionnaires to the respondents, capturing their socio-demographic characteristics, knowledge of COVID-19 surveillance, and Reporting practices of COVID-19 case reporting through the IDSR structure. The data were collected between May and June 2022 and then scrutinized for completeness and analysis using IBM SPSS version 23.0 statistical software. The 95% Confidence Interval (CI) and the computed p-value were used to determine the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. Hence, the p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: We assessed 117 healthcare workers who consented to participate in the study. Seventy-one (60.7%) of the respondents were from Akure South LGA while 39.3% were recruited from Owo LGA. The mean age ± standard deviation of respondents was 38.27±10.38 years with about onequarter (39; 33.3%) of the respondents within the age group 30-39 years. Also, about half of the respondents were nurses/ Midwives in addition to community health workers who represent 35.0% of the respondents. More than half of the respondents worked in tertiary (58; 49.6%) and primary health facilities (49; 41.9%). Two-thirds, 74 (63.2%) of the respondents had good and 43 (36.8%) had a fair/poor knowledge of COVID-19 case reporting while 51 (43.6%) of the respondents have good practices of reporting COVID-19. Having a good knowledge of COVID-19 surveillance and case reporting (AOR=2.61, 95% CI=1.070-6.371) and having attended COVID-19 surveillance training (AOR=2.87, 95% CI=1.093-7.241) were significant predictive factors to good COVID-19 case reporting practices among health care professionals. Conclusion: Our study found poor reporting practices of COVID-19 cases by a healthcare professional to public health authorities. Hence, we recommend regular training of healthcare professionals on COVID-19 case reporting through the IDSR strategy to enhance their knowledge of disease reporting and in addition, adequate provision of designated IDSR reporting tools to further improve the reporting practices of COVID-19 cases and other IDSR priority diseases among health care professionals.