Strengthening Surveillance for COVID-19 and Other Infectious Diseases (English)

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the urgent need for robust and adaptable surveillance systems that can withstand the challenges posed by emerging infectious threats. At a global level, the response to the pandemic was hindered by the lack of comprehensive and timely surveillance data from countries where COVID-19 was surging. At a national level, the lack of robust surveillance data meant that local outbreaks and surges were not detected until well after they had started, sometimes with devastating consequences. This brief is aimed at policy makers in low- and middle-income countries who are not experts or practitioners of medicine or laboratory techniques. There are more comprehensive documents that explain in depth what integrated disease surveillance is and how it should be organized; this brief is more narrowly focused on what should be done to integrate COVID-19 into existing surveillance programs. The objective is to provide clear and actionable recommendations that will preserve the gains made during the pandemic, and to ultimately strengthen systems of surveillance of infectious diseases.