Tanzania adopted IDSR as the platform for all disease surveillance activities. Today, Tanzania's IDSR guidelines include surveillance and response protocols for 34 diseases and conditions of public health importance, outlining in detail necessary recording and reporting procedures and activities to be taken at all levels. A total of 15 disease-specific programs/sections in the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MOHCDGEC) are linked to the IDSR, though the extent to which each program uses IDSR data varies. Over the years, IDSR procedures and the structures that support them have received significant government and external resources to maintain and strengthen detection, notification, reporting and analysis of surveillance information. However, with the imminent phasing out of programs (such as the Polio eradication program) that have supported IDSR strengthening and maintenance in the past, resources for surveillance will become more limited and the government will need to identify additional resources to sustain the country's essential surveillance functions. Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP), a USAID Funded Program supported MOHCDGEC managing active and passive surveillance systems in improving coordination and strengthen the system taking into consideration declining resources as well as transitioning to polio end game where most of the financial resources were derived from to support vaccine preventable diseases surveillance. The support complements other Global health security agenda (GHSA) on the key thematic areas (Prevent, Detect and Report) support to the MOHCDGEC and working with the newly formed Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to improve response.
Objective: To support streamlining of VPD surveillance into integrated diseases surveillance and response (IDSR) system in Tanzania.