Research, Policy and Practice
Theme | Sub-theme: strengths | Sub-theme: weakness/areas for improvement |
---|---|---|
Usefulness | Detects trends signalling changes in disease occurrence Detects epidemics Provides estimates of morbidity and mortality magnitude of disease Leads to improved clinical practice Triggers intervention by MAAIF | Identification of risk factors associated with disease occurrence Assessment of effects of disease control measures |
Simplicity | Visits to the veterinary office and use of telephones by farmers to report suspected cases | Incompetence of farmers to identify emerging diseases Inadequate information for disease diagnosis Reluctance of DVOs to submit monthly reports to MAAIF |
Timeliness | Farmers quickly report suspected diseases to the veterinary staffs | Delayed intervention Inadequate financial support from MAAIF to facilitate the surveillance activities |
Representativeness | Generic description of the distribution of infection in the population by place and type of animal hosts possible using information reported by farmers | More accurate information describing the pattern of the outbreak in the community like herd size, management systems and exact onset of infection left out since this requires technical expertise |
Sensitivity | Case reporting when seeking treatment for sick animals is high, hence the ability to detect disease outbreaks | Diagnosis is only based on clinical signs Laboratory confirmatory diagnosis not done |
Flexibility | None | Active functioning of the system is inclined to funding from international projects. The system is not able to adjust to variations in funds and personnel |
Acceptability | The farmers always show willingness to report diseases when they occur | Need for all actors to improve on their involvement in the reporting, transmitting and providing of feedback |
Data quality | Case information obtained from the local communities is validated by local veterinarians under instruction of the District Veterinary Officer to avoid false alarms | The surveillance forms provided by MAAIF need to be revised to improve the quality of data collected routinely |