Seasonal Influenza Surveillance Project Successfully Concludes

December 20, 2011

A project implemented by AMP to improve influenza surveillance and reporting capacities in eight sub-Saharan African countries drew to a close on December 20, 2011.

The one-year Strengthening Influenza Sentinel Surveillance in Africa (SISA) project included the recruitment, training and deployment of five consultants to support field activities in Angola, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Zambia.

World Health Organization officials were particularly impressed with the project’s development in Sierra Leone, where national stakeholders managed to start operating a functional influenza sentinel surveillance system starting from scratch.

Seasonal influenza is a serious public health problem that causes an estimated 3 to 5 million cases and 250,000 deaths worldwide every year.