Novel Conceptual Framework and Toolset for Country-wide Assessments of Opportunities and Challenges for Public Health Interventions

Imbalances in wealth, education, infrastructure, socio-political leadership, healthcare, and demographics create opportunities and challenges when implementing public health interventions. Understanding these, while embracing "smart power," one can objectively assess a country's receptivity for support. Therefore, we developed a novel conceptual framework and toolset that objectively measured opportunities and challenges to inform decision-making, specifically about future implementation of the Electronic Integrated Disease Surveillance System (EIDSS) - a computer-based system for national reporting and monitoring of reportable human and veterinary infectious diseases in East Africa and the Middle East.