Strengthening regional disease surveillance in West Africa

This project aims to strengthen the ability of West African countries to ensure regional disease surveillance and response. It supports the West Africa Regional Disease Surveillance Capacity Strengthening Project managed by the World Bank and coordinated and implemented by the West Africa Health Organization (WAHO). Disease outbreaks within the West African region are frequent and can have a particularly heavy impact on the countries’ economies and human development. As epidemics do not respect national boundaries a high level of inter-country regional collaboration and information sharing is required to be effectively prepared for potential epidemics such as Ebola or to be able to prevent them from reoccurring. Project activities include: (1) establishing centres of disease surveillance at the local level that are able to detect and report on diseases; (2) undertaking regional simulation exercises for outbreak responses and (3) training women and men in epidemiological surveillance and control.

The expected intermediate outcomes for this project include: (1) strengthened national and regional disease surveillance systems within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Zone; and (2) improved effectiveness of epidemic response measures including for the fight against Ebola in the ECOWAS Zone.