Strategy and evaluation tool for strengthening national early detection and response capacities

Project details

Year: 2019-2020

Client: World Health Organization - Regional Office for Europe

Objective: Develop a strategy and evaluation tool for strengthening national early detection and response capacities in the WHO European Region.

Deliverables:

• Step-by-step strategy to strengthen early detection and response capacities in the WHO European Region high-priority countries.
• Evaluation tool of existing national capacities for early detection and response.
• Evaluation reports of existing national capacities for early detection and response in Kyrgyzstan and Georgia.

Performed activities

A scoping review of existing guidance documents and tools to assess and strengthen a public health surveillance system was performed. Recommendations to strengthen public health surveillance systems generally, and their early detection and response function specifically, were used to develop the step-by-step strategy. Through the scoping review, a list of 30 capacities to ensure the early detection and response function of a public health surveillance system was defined. For each capacity, a list of best practices was retrieved. This list of best practices was used as criteria to assess how each capacity is in place in a country. Algorithms to grade each capacity based on the available criteria were developed and dedicated forms and templates to collect and analyse the required information were built.

The strategy and evaluation tool were pilot-tested during one-week missions in Kyrgyzstan and Georgia and updated accordingly. During these two missions, each country capacities for early detection and response were evaluated.