Conference abstract
Evaluation of the tuberculosis surveillance system in the Ashaiman Municipality of the Greater Accra Region
Pan African Medical Journal - Conference Proceedings. 2017:3(59).24
Oct 2017.
doi: 10.11604/pamj-cp.2017.3.59.188
Archived on: 24 Oct 2017
Contact the corresponding author
Keywords: Evaluation, tuberculosis, surveillance, Ashaiman
Oral presentation
Evaluation of the tuberculosis surveillance system in the Ashaiman Municipality of the Greater Accra Region
Rita Patricia Frimpong-Mansoh1,&, Benedict Nii Calys- Tagoe1, Efua Therson- Coffie1, Kwadwo Odei Antwi- Agyei1
1Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, Ghana Health Service, Accra, Ghana
&Corresponding author
Rita Patricia Frimpong-Mansoh, Ghana College of Physicians and Surgeons, Ghana Health Service, Accra, Ghana
Introduction: tuberculosis is an infection of the lungs and other organs caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It was the leading cause of death from an infectious illness globally with an estimated 10.4 million new cases and 1.4 million deaths in 2015. In Ghana, the incidence is estimated as 165 per 100,000 population and mortality rate of 7.5 per every 1,000 infected people. The tuberculosis surveillance system is part of the general frame work of the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR). It was evaluated to describe the operation and performance of the system using the system attributes and to provide recommendations to improve the operation and efficiency of the system.
Methods: the tuberculosis surveillance system of the Ashaiman Municipality was evaluated using the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention Updated Guidelines for Evaluating Public Health Surveillance Systems 2006. Records review from 2014 to 2016 was done to assess the objectives of the system and Surveillance data source of 2016 used to assess attributes. Interviews were conducted at the various levels using a semi-structured questionnaire and data analysis done with Epi info and Microsoft Excel to run frequencies and percentages.
Results: the tuberculosis surveillance system is well structured with standardized data collection tools. The system was found to be useful but only partially met its objectives. It was also found to be simple, flexible, and fairly stable and had average timeliness. It had low acceptability and not geographically representative (4 out of 6 treatment centres are located in one Sub district). It also had a low sensitivity (case notification for all forms of TB in Ghana currently stands at 54/100,000 and that for Ashaiman in the year 2016 was 45/100,000 but tuberculosis prevalence survey in 2013 revealed incidence of 165 cases per 100,000 people in Ghana) and a low predictive value positive of 6.6%.
Conclusion: the tuberculosis surveillance system was found to be useful at all levels but partially met its objectives. There is the need to improve the sensitivity, predictive value positive timeliness and acceptability.
