Comparative assessment of the human and animal health surveillance systems in Tanzania: Opportunities for an integrated one health surveillance platform

ABSTRACT

Globally, there have been calls for an integrated zoonotic disease surveillance system. This study aimed to assess human and animal health surveillance systems to identify opportunities for One Health surveillance platform in Tanzania. A desk review of policies, acts and strategies addressing disease surveillance that support inter-sectoral collaboration was conducted. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered to key informants from the two sectors. Databases with potential relevance for surveillance were assessed. One Health-focused policies, acts, strategic plans and guidelines emphasising inter-sectoral collaboration strengthening were in place. Stable systems for collecting surveillance data with trained staff to implement surveillance activities at all levels in both sectors were available. While the human surveillance system was a mix of paper-based and web-based, the animal health system was mainly paper-based. The laboratory information system existed in both sectors, though not integrated with the epidemiological surveillance systems. Both the animal and human surveillance systems had low sensitivity to alert outbreaks. The findings indicate that individual, organisational, and infrastructure opportunities that support the integration of surveillance systems from multiple sectors exist. Challenges related to data sharing and quality need to be addressed for the effective implementation of the platform.

KEYWORDS:

• Human
• animal
• health
• surveillance systems
• integration
• Tanzania

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the Management of the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children and the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries for their support during the engagement of the Key Informants. Prof. Gabriel Shirima is thanked for his critical review of the early draft of the manuscript. IRM carried out data collection and analysis. A first draft of the manuscript was prepared by IRM, expanded by SIK, CS, SFR, and LEGM, then further revised by IRM, SFR, and LEGM. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author.

Additional information

Funding

IRM is a PhD student supported by the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania through the World Bank (World Bank Group WB-ACE II Grant; PAD1436, IDA Credit 5799-TZ) to the SACIDS Africa Centre of Excellence for Infectious Diseases of Humans and Animals in East and Southern Africa; European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership. Pan African Network for Rapid Research, Response, Relief and Preparedness for Infectious Disease Epidemic, with financial support from the (EDCTP2) programme (Grant RIA2016E-1609) which is supported under Horizon 2020, the European Union's Framework Programme for Research and Innovation.