The 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in Guinea revealed systematic weaknesses in the existing disease surveillance system. The lack of public health workers adequately trained in Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) contributed to underreporting of cases and problems with data completeness, accuracy, and reliability. These data quality issues resulted in difficulty assessing the epidemic's scale and distribution and hindered the control effort (McNamara, 2016; Bell, 2016). In 2015, the Guinean Ministry of Health (MoH) recognized the importance of the IDSR framework as a tool for improving disease surveillance and emphasized IDSR strengthening as a priority activity in the post-Ebola transition (MoH, 2015). To support this strategic objective, we engaged with the MoH, CDC, and key surveillance partners to strengthen surveillance capacity through a national initiative to improve IDSR tools, including assistance with developing Guinea-specific IDSR technical guidelines, simplified and standardized case notification forms, and supportive job aids to facilitate appropriate IDSR implementation by health workers at all levels of the system.
Objective: The objective is to discuss capacity building for Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response in Guinea and synthesize lessons learned for implementing the Global Health Security Agenda in similar settings.