Folkhälsomyndighetens analys av DRK:s system för kontroll av epidemier

The Swedish Public Health Agency (Folkhälsomyndigheten) submitted a report for a pre-study that was conducted in early February 2020. The report provides a short summary of meetings held with various stakeholders such as government as well as bilateral and multilateral agencies. The meetings provided Folkhälsomyndigheten with an overview of the current landscape as well as existing policy documents and the identified implementation gaps.   Folkhälsomyndigheten did a desktop review of the needs in the country and some of the plans to strengthen the response and surveillance system in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); all of which are outlined in the DRC National Action Plan for Health Security (PANSS 2019-2023). The PANSS outlines the vision, objectives and 19 priority areas for health emergency preparedness.  Folkhälsomyndigheten's report shows that the groundwork has been done in terms of identifying priorities for strengthening the country's emergency preparedness and response systems. Folkhälsomyndigheten discussed with key partners, Ministry of Health and WHO, some of the prioritised activities identified and highlighted in the PANSS (2019-2023) and how a collaboration around these could be shaped. The areas identified included:- Disease surveillance, data collection and analysis for decision-making- Innovative ways of data collection- Innovative ways of surveillance using other data sources      - Electronic surveillance- Complex data analytics- Gender, spatial and equity analyses related to health status- Strengthening diagnostic capacities especially at sub-national level- Operation research support- Capacity building, knowledge sharing and transfer- Support for the creation of a National Centre for Disease Prevention and Control for sustained capacities at all levels of the health system- Human resources capacity strengthening- Staff exchange and secondments- Refresher training A first suggestion for area of collaboration was to start looking at surveillance at regional level. This would involve a review of regional surveillance with a focus on early detection of outbreaks and the management of them. Starting in one area and then extending to multiple over time. 

The Swedish Public Health Agency (Folkhälsomyndigheten) was supported by Sida in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to conduct a pre-study on the epidemiological surveillance and response systems of the country. The feasibility study was carried out in early 2020 with the purpose to expand the understanding and knowledge of the national context and explore possibilities of how Sida, with technical expertise from Folkhälsomyndigheten, can contribute to strengthening the DRC's system for monitoring, detecting and managing epidemic outbreaks.