Regional Disease Surveillance Systems Enhancement Series of Projects (REDISSE)
Start & End Date: 2016-2023
Country/Countries: Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leone
Multilateral Institution(s) Involved: World Bank
Case Study: Available
In June 2007, the WHO set forth a mandate via the International Health Regulation (IHR 2005) that requires country governments to develop, strengthen and maintain the core capacities of national public health systems to detect, assess, notify, and respond promptly and effectively to health risks and public health emergencies of international concern (PHEICs). In the WHO Africa Region (WHO/AFRO), the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) strategy serves as a framework to fulfill the mandates of IHR (2005). However, till today, IDSR has not been fully implemented in most countries in the region, thus contributing to the limited capacity of the countries’ health system for systematic collection, analysis, confirmation, and interpretation of disease surveillance data, in addition to insufficient capabilities for preparedness and rapid response. Thus, the need to reinforce these capacities in this region as a mitigating risk for potential future pandemic outbreaks. Over the last four decades, the world has witnessed one to three newly emerging infectious diseases annually. The West Africa region is both a hotspot for emerging infectious diseases and a region where the burden of zoonotic diseases is particularly high. In this region, emerging and re-emerging diseases at the human-animal-ecosystems interface are occurring with increased frequency. As evidenced by the recent Ebola epidemics in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia, highly contagious diseases in this region cross borders easily and have the potential to turn into pandemics. These add to the ongoing burden of neglected and endemic human and animal diseases, including zoonosis.
The REDISSE program, launched by the World Bank in 2016, aims at enhancing disease surveillance strengthening in countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The objectives of the Project are: (i) to strengthen national and regional cross-sectoral capacity for collaborative disease surveillance and epidemic preparedness in West Africa, thereby addressing systemic weaknesses within the animal and human health systems that hinder effective disease surveillance and response; and (ii) in the event of an Eligible Emergency, to provide immediate and effective response to said Eligible Emergency – especially in the three participating countries. Other technical and financial partners, including The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, the World Organisation for Animal Health, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, among others, support the program. The REDISSE projects’ design incorporates a shift from a paradigm grounded in crisis response to one that embraces a health disaster risk reduction approach and better risk management to rapidly detect and respond to biological hazards of national and international concern, reducing the burden of diseases and mitigating the public health and economic risks posed by infectious diseases in humans and animals.
Ultimately, the project will contribute towards significantly reducing the burden of diseases particularly among the poor and vulnerable populations, mitigating the public health and economic risks posed by infectious diseases in humans and animals, and decreasing the threats of future disease outbreaks thereby promoting global health security.